. 


r  „,  MEMORY.-.. 

John  Galen  Howard 
1864-1931 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS. 

THE  NEW  PLUTARCH;  Lives  of  those  who  have  made  the 
History  of  the  World.  Edited  by  WALTER  BESANT.  i6mo,  cloth 
extra,  per  volume,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  $i  oo 

Biography  is  History  teaching  us  by  example.  We  remember  the  movements 
of  nations  chiefly  by  the  actions  of  great  men,  and  every  characteristic  period  of"  his 
tory  has  one  man  at  least  who  seems  to  express  and  illustrate  it.  These  are  the  men 
by  whom  history  appears  to  have  been  made.  No  form  of  literature  is  more  attractive 
than  that  which  treats  of  their  lives.  The  life  of  a  man  of  action  is  the  story  of  con- 
.inued  combat.  "The  New  Plutarch  "  tells  of  those  who  have  fought  a  good  fight, 
and  gone  down  to  the  grave  honored  and  remembered  because  they  greatly  dared. 

11  A  thoroughly  good  idea,  and  original  in  its  application.  *  *  *  A  decidedly 
sensible  thing  in  literature." — Boston  Post. 

"•  We  should  place  'The  New  Plutarch'  among  the  very  best  of  the  recent 
series  *  *  *  the  volumes  rise  to  the  full  dignity  of  biographical  studies."—^.  Y. 
Evening  Mail. 

Vol.  I.  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  By  CHARLES  G.  LELAND,  author 
of  "The  Egyptian  Sketch-Book,"  "The  Breitmann  Ballads,"  etc. 
With  portrait  on  steel. 

u  The  study  of  Lincoln'  character  will  always  be  a  fascinating  and  profitable 
pursuit.  *  *  *  Mr.  Leland's  life  is  in  many  respects  an  admirable  work,  written 
with  skill,  judgment  and  the  power  to  interest.  ' — Scribner's  Monthly. 

"  A  fascinating  volume." — N.  Y.  Independent. 

"  An  excellent  piece  of  work,  written  with  ease  and  simplicity.  It  brings  out 
In  bold  relief  the  fine  moral  qualities  of  Lincoln,  and  does  full  justice  to  his  rare  men 
tal  powers,  while  the  mighty  political  events,  of  which  he  was  the  centre,  are  clearly 
and  dramatically  presented.  — N,  Y.  Evening  Mail 

Vol.  II.     COLIGNY,  and  the  Failure  of  the  French  Reformation. 

By  WALTER  BESANT. 

"  The  stirring  events  of  the  times  are  related  in  a  spirited  narrative." — Boston 
A  dvertiser. 

u  The  work  of  a  thorough  and  scholarly  student  of  History  *  *  *  a  book 
which  is  alive  ^  and  which  gives  us  a  real  man  and  a  hero." — Buffalo  Express. 

Vol.  III.  JUDAS  MACCABEUS  and  the  Revival  of  the  Jewish 
Nationality.  By  Lieut.  C.  R.  CONDER,  R.E. 

"  The  history  of  Judas  Maccabseus,  of  his  brethren  and  of  tht  whole  struggle 
is  admirably  done.  *  *  *  Tracing  the  momentous  significance  of  the  struggle 
that  preserved  the  purity  ot  the  Jewish  faith,  and  prepared  judea  to  be,  as  he  says,  the 
cradle  of  Christianity." — Literary  Chitrchnian. 

u  A  volume  which  will  be  most  valuable  to  the  scholar  as  a  summary,  and  price 
less  to  the  enquirer  who  has  small  opportunity  to  study  at  first  hand." — Boston 
Courier. 

Vol.  IV.  JOAN  OF  ARC,  and  the  Expulsion  of  the  English  from 
France.  By  JANET  TUCKEY. 

IN    PREPARATION. 

Victor  Emanuel,  Haroun  Al  Raschid,  Charlemagne,  Richelieu,  etc. 
G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  182  FIFTH  AVENUE,  N.  Y. 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


AND   THE 


ABOLITION    OF   SLAVERY    IN 
THE   UNITED   STATES 


BY 


CHARLES  GODFREY  LELAND 

AUTHOR    OF   "HANS    BREITMANN'S    BALLADS,"    "THE  EGYPTIAN  SKETCH  BOOK,' 

ETC.,   ETC. 


NEW  YORK 

G.   P.   PUTNAM'S   SONS 

182  FIFTH  AVENUE 

1881 


COPYRIGHT  BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS. 

1879 


Add'l 


GIFT 


fc 


PUBLISHERS'    NOTE. 


IN   issuing  this   second   edition    of  Mr.    Leland's 
biography,  the   publishers   have  taken  occasion 
to  correct  a  few  errors  in  dates  and  proper  names, 
and  in  citations  from  documents,  that  had  crept  into 
the  first  edition. 

The  book  was  prepared  during  the  author's  resi 
dence  abroad,  where  he  did  not  have  at  hand  for 
reference  all  the  authorities  needed,  and  as  it  was 
stereotyped  in  London  the  above  oversights  were 
not  at  once  detected. 


PREFACE. 

Y  MAKE  no  apology  for  adding  another  "Life  of 
Abraham  Lincoln"  to  the  many  already  written, 
as  I  believe  it  impossible  to  make  such  an  example 
of  successful  perseverance  allied  to  honesty,  as  the 
great  President  gave,  too  well  known  to  the  world. 
And  as  I  know  of  no  other  man  whose  life  shows 
so  perfectly  what  may  be  effected  by  resolute  self- 
culture,  and  adherence  to  good  principles  in  spite  of 
obstacles,  I  infer  that  such  an  example  cannot  be 
too  extensively  set  before  all  young  men  who  are 
ambitious  to  do  well  in  the  truest  sense.  There  are 
also  other  reasons  why  it  should  be  studied.  The 
life  of  Abraham  Lincoln  during  his  Presidency  is 
simply  that  of  his  country — since  he  was  so  intimately 
concerned  with  every  public  event  of  his  time,  that 
as  sometimes  happens  with  photographs,  so  with  the 
biography  of  Lincoln  and  the  history  of  his  time,  we 


6  Preface. 

cannot  decide  whether  the  great  picture  was  enlarged 
from  the  smaller  one,  or  the  smaller  reduced  from  a 
greater.  His  career  also  fully  proves  that  extremes 
meet,  since  in  no  despotism  is  there  an  example  of 
any  one  who  ever  governed  so  great  a  country  so 
thoroughly  in  detail  as  did  this  Republican  of  Repub 
licans,  whose  one  thought  was  simply  to  obey  the 
people. 

It  is  of  course  impossible  to  give  within  the  limits 
of  a  small  book  all  the  details  of  a  busy  life,  and  also 
the  history  of  the  American  Emancipation  and  its 
causes  ;  but  I  trust  that  I  have  omitted  little  of  much 
importance.  The  books  to  which  I  have  been  chiefly 
indebted,  and  from  which  I  have  borrowed  most 
freely,  are  the  lives  of  Lincoln  by  W.  H.  Lamon,  and 
by  my  personal  friends  H.  J.  Raymond  and  Dr. 
Holland  ;  and  also  the  works  referring  to  the  war  by 
I.  N.  Arnold,  F.  B.  Carpenter,  L.  P.  Brockett,  A. 
Boyd,  G.  W.  Bacon,  J.  Barrett,  Adam  Badeau,  and 
F.  Moore. 

C.  G.  L. 

June,  1879. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I.  PAG8 

Birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln — The  Lincoln  Family — Abraham's  first 
Schooling — Death  of  Mrs.  Lincoln,  and  the  new  "Mother" — 
Lincoln's  Boyhood  and  Youth — Self-Education — Great  Physical 
Strength — First  Literary  Efforts— Journey  to  New  Orleans — En 
couraging  Incident,  .  .  .  .  .  .  9 

CHAPTER     II. 

Lincoln's  Appearance — His  First  Public  Speech — Again  at  New 
Orleans — Mechanical  Genius— Clerk  in  a  Country  Store— Elected 
Captain— The  Black  Hawk  War— Is  a  successful  Candidate  for  the 
Legislature — Becomes  a  Storekeeper,  Land  Surveyor,  and  Post 
master -His  First  Love — The  "Long  Nine" — First  Step  towards 
Emancipation,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .30 

CHAPTER     III. 

Lincoln  settles  at  Springfield  as  a  Lawyer— Candidate  for  the  office  of 
Presidential  Elector — A  Love  Affair — Marries  Miss  Todd — Religious 
Views — Exerts  himself  for  Henry  Clay — Elected  to  Congress  in 
1846 — Speeches  in  Congress— Out  of  Political  Employment  until 
1854— Anecdotes  of  Lincoln  as  a  Lawyer,  .  .  •  S3 

CHAPTER     IV. 

Rise  of  the  Southern  Party — Formation  of  the  Abolition  and  the  Free 
Soil  Parties — Judge  Douglas  and  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill — 
Douglas  debated  by  Lincoln — Lincoln  resigns  as  Candidate  for 
Congress — Lincoln's  Letter  on  Slavery — The  Bloomington  Speech — 
The  Fremont  Campaign  — Election  of  Buchanan— The  Dred-Scott 
Decision,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .64 

CHAPTER     V. 

Causes  of  Lincoln's  Nomination  to  the  Presidency— His  Lectures  in 
New  York,  &c. — The  First  Nomination  and  the  Fence  Rails — The 
Nomination  at  Chicago — Elected  President  —  Office-seekers  and 
Appointments — Lincoln's  Impartiality — The  South  determined  to 
Secede— Fears  for  Lincoln's  Life,  .  .  .  .  .78 

CHAPTER    VI. 

A  Suspected  Conspiracy — Lincoln's  Departure  for  Washington — His 
Speeches  at  Springfield  and  on  the  road  to  the  National  Capital — 
Breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion — Treachery  of  President  Buchanan — 
Treason  in  the  Cabinet — Jefferson  Davis's  Message — Threats  of 
Massacre  and  Ruin  to  the  North — Southern  Sympathisers — Lincoln's 
Inaugural  Address — The  Cabinet — The  Days  of  Doubt  and  of 
Darkness,  .  .  ~  .  .  .  .  .88 


Contents. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Mr.  Seward  refuses  to  meet  the  Rebel  Commissioners— Lincoln's 
Forbearance — Fort  Sumter — Call  for  75,000  Troops — Troubles  in 
Maryland — Administrative  Prudence — Judge  Douglas — Increase  of 
the  Army— Winthrop  and  Ellsworth— Bull  Run— General  M'Clellan,  102 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

Relations  with  Europe — Foreign  Views  of  the  War — The  Slaves — 
Proclamation  of  Emancipation — Arrest  of  Rebel  Commissioners — 
Black  Troops,  .  .  .  .  .  .  •  .117 

CHAPTER    IX. 

Eighteen  Hundred  and  Sixty-two — The  Plan  of  the  War,  and 
Strength  of  the  Armies — General  M  'Clellan — The  General  Movement, 
January  27th,  1862 — The  brilliant  Western  Campaign — Removal  of 
M  'Clellan — The  Monitor — Battle  of  Fredericksburg — Vallandigham 
and  Seymour — The  Alabama — President  Lincoln  declines  all  Foreign 
Mediation,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .134 

CHAPTER     X. 

Eighteen  Hundred  and  Sixty-three — A  Popular  Prophecy — General 
Burnside  relieved  and  General  Hooker  appointed — Battle  of  Chancel- 
lorsville— The  Rebels  invade  Pennsylvania— Battle  of  Gettysburg — 
Lincoln's  Speech  at  Gettysburg — Grant  takes  Vicksburg — Port 
Hudson— Battle  of  Chattanooga— New  York  Riots— The  French  in 
Mexico — Troubles  in  Missouri,  .  .  •  .  .  *47 

CHAPTER     XI. 

Proclamation  of  Amnesty — Lincoln's  Benevolence — His  Self-reliance — 
Progress  of  the  Campaign — The  Summer  of  1864 — Lincoln's  Speech 
at  Philadelphia — Suffering  in  the  South — Raids — Sherman's  March 
— Grant's  Position— Battle  of  the  Wilderness — Siege  of  Petersburg — 
Charnbersburg — Naval  Victories — Confederate  Intrigues — Presiden 
tial  Election — Lincoln  Re-elected — Atrocious  Attempts  of  the  Con 
federates,  .  .  .  .  .  .  •  -172 

CHAPTER    XII. 

The  President's  Reception  of  Negroes — The  South  opens  Negotiations 
for  Peace — Proposals— Lincoln's  Second  Inauguration — The  Last 
Battle — Davis  Captured — End  of  the  War — Death  of  Lincoln— Public 
Mourning,  ........  203 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

President  Lincoln's  Characteristics— His  Love  of  Humour— His  Stories 
—Pithy  Sayings— Repartees— His  Dignity,  .  .  .  .233 

INDEX,      .          .          .          .          .  •          •          •  •  24S 


LIFE  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


CHAPTER     I. 

Birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln — The  Lincoln  Family — Abraham's  first  School 
ing — Death  of  Mrs.  Lincoln,  and  the  new  "Mother" — Lincoln's 
Boyhood  and  Youth — Self-Education — Great  Physical  Strength — First 
Literary  Efforts—Journey  to  New  Orleans — Encouraging  Incident. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  born  in  Kentucky, 
on  the  1 2th  day  of  February,  1809.  The 
log-cabin  which  was  his  birth-place  was  built 
on  the  south  branch  of  Nolin's  Creek,  three 
miles  from  the  village  of  Hodgensville,  on  land 
which  was  then  in  the  county  of  Hardin,  but  is 
now  included  in  that  of  La  Rue.  His  father, 
Thomas  Lincoln,  was  born  in  1778;  his  mother's 
maiden  name  was  Nancy  Hanks.  The  Lincoln 
family,  which  appears  to  have  been  of  unmixed 
English  descent,  came  to  Kentucky  from  Berks 
County,  Pennsylvania,  to  which  place  tradition  or 
conjecture  asserts  they  had  emigrated  from  Massa 
chusetts.  But  they  did  not  remain  long  in  Pennsyl 
vania,  since  they  seem  to  have  gone  before  1752  to 
Rockingham,  County  Virginia,  which  state  was  then 


io  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

one  with  that  of  Kentucky.  There  is,  however,  so 
much  doubt  as  to  these  details  of  their  early  history, 
that  it  is  not  certain  whether  they  were  at  first 
emigrants  directly  from  England  to  Virginia,  an  off 
shoot  of  the  historic  Lincoln  family  in  Massachusetts, 
or  of  the  highly  respectable  Lincolns  of  Pennsyl 
vania.1  This  obscurity  is  plainly  due  to  the  great 
poverty  and  lowly  station  of  the  Virginian  Lincolns. 
"  My  parents,"  said  President  Lincoln,  in  a  brief 
autobiographic  sketch,2  "  were  both  born  of  undis 
tinguished  families  —  second  families,  perhaps,  I 
should  say."  To  this  he  adds  that  his  paternal 
grandfather  was  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  migrated 
from  Rockingham,  County  Virginia,  to  Kentucky, 
"about  1781  or  2,"  although  his  cousins  and  other 
relatives  all  declare  this  grandsire's  name  to  have 
been  Mordecai — a  striking  proof  of  the  ignorance  and 
indifference  of  the  family  respecting  matters  seldom 
neglected. 

This  grandfather,  Abraham  or  Mordecai,  having 
removed  to  Kentucky, "  the  dark  and  bloody  ground," 
settled  in  Mercer  County.  Their  house  was  a  rough 
log-cabin,  their  farm  a  little  clearing  in  the  midst  of 
the  forest.  One  morning,  not  long  after  their  settle 
ment,  the  father  took  Thomas,  his  youngest  son,  and 
went  to  build  a  fence  a  short  distance  from  the  house, 

1  Lamon,  c.  i.  p.  I.         2  Addressed  to  J.  W.  Fell,  March,  1872. 


Mordecai  Lincoln.  n 

while  the  other  brothers,  Mordecai  and  Josiah,  were 
sent  to  a  field  not  far  away.  They  were  all  intent 
upon  their  work,  when  a  shot  from  a  party  of  Indians 
in  ambush  was  heard.  The  father  fell  dead.  Josiah 
ran  to  a  stockade,  or  settlement,  two  or  three  miles 
off;  Mordecai,  the  eldest  boy,  made  his  \vay  to  the 
house,  and,  looking  out  from  a  loop-hole,  saw  an 
Indian  in  the  act  of  raising  his  little  brother  from 
the  ground.  He  took  deliberate  aim  at  a  silver 
ornament  on  the  breast  of  the  Indian,  and  brought 
him  down.  Thomas  sprang  towards  the  cabin,  and 
was  admitted  by  his  mother,  while  Mordecai  renewed 
his  fire  at  several  other  Indians  who  rose  from  the 
covert  of  the  fence,  or  thicket.  It  was  not  long  before 
Josiah  returned  from  the  stockade  with  a  party 
of  settlers ;  but  the  Indians  had  fled,  and  none 
were  found  but  the  dead  one,  and  another  who 
was  wounded,  and  had  crept  into  the  top  of  a 
fallen  tree.  Mordecai,  it  is  said,  hated  the  Indians 
ever  after  with  an  intensity  which  was  unusual 
even  in  those  times.  As  Allan  Macaulay,  in 
"  Waverley,"  is  said  to  have  hunted  down  the 
Children  of  the  Mist,  or  as  the  Quaker  Nathan, 
in  Bird's  romance  of  "  Nick  of  the  Woods,"  is 
described  as  hunting  the  Shavvnese,  so  we  are  told 
this  other  avenger  of  blood  pursued  his  foes  with 
unrelenting,  unscrupulous  hatred.  For  days  together 
he  would  follow  peaceable  Indians  as  they  passed 


12  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

through    the    settlements,    in    order    to    get    secret 
shots  at  them.1 

Mordecai,  the  Indian-killer,  and  his  brother,  Josiah, 
remained  in  Virginia,  and  grew  up  to  be  respectable, 
prosperous  men.  The  younger  brother,  Thomas, 
was  always  "  idle,  thriftless,  poor,  a  hunter,  and  a 
rover."  He  exercised  occasionally  in  a  rough  way 
the  calling  of  a  carpenter,  and,  wandering  from  place 
to  place,  began  at  different  times  to  cultivate  the 
wilderness,  but  with  little  success,  owing  to  his 
laziness.  Yet  he  was  a  man  of  great  strength  and 
vigour,  and  once  "  thrashed  the  monstrous  bully 
of  Breckinridge  County  in  three  minutes,  and  came 
off  without  a  scratch."  He  was  an  inveterate  talker, 
or  popular  teller  of  stories  and  anecdotes,  and  a 
Jackson  Democrat  in  politics,  which  signified  that 
he  belonged  to  the  more  radical  of  the  two  political 
parties  which  then  prevailed  in  America.  In  religion, 
he  was,  says  Lamon,  who  derived  his  information 
from  Mr.  W.  H.  Herndon,  "  nothing  at  times,  and  a 
member  of  various  denominations  by  turns."  In 
1806,  he  lived  at  Elizabethtown,  in  Hardin  County, 
Kentucky,  where,  in  the  same  year  and  place,  he 
married  Nancy  Hanks :  the  exact  date  of  the 
marriage  is  unknown.  It  is  .said  of  this  young 
woman  that  she  was  a  tall  and  beautiful  brunette, 

1  Lamon,  p.  7. 


Lincoln's  Mother.  13 

with  an  understanding  which,  by  her  family  at  least, 
was  considered  wonderful.  She  could  read  and 
write — as  rare  accomplishments  in  those  days  in 
Kentucky  backwoods  as  they  still  are  among  the 
poor  whites  of  the  South  or  their  Western  descen 
dants.1  In  later  life  she  was  sadly  worn  by  hard 
labour,  both  in  the  house  and  fields,  and  her  features 
were  marked  with  a  melancholy  which  was  probably 
constitutional,  and  which  her  son  inherited. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  President  Abraham 
Lincoln  never  spoke,  except  with  great  reluctance, 
of  his  early  life,  or  of  his  parents.  As  it  is,  the 
researches  of  W.  H.  Herndon  and  others  have 
indicated  the  hereditary  sources  of  his  chief  charac 
teristics.  We  know  that  the  grandfather  was  a 
vigorous  backwoodsman,  who  died  a  violent  death ; 
that  his  uncle  was  a  grim  and  determined  man- 
slayer,  carrying  out  for  years  the  blood-feud  pro 
voked  by  the  murder  of  his  parent ;  that  his  mother 
was  habitually  depressed,  and  that  his  father  was  a 
favourite  of  both  men  and  women,  though  a  mere 
savage  when  irritated,  fond  of  fun,  an  endless  story 
teller,  physically  powerful,  and  hating  hard  work. 
Out  of  all  these  preceding  traits,  it  is  not  difficult 

1  In  1865,  I  saw  many  companies  and  a  few  regiments  "mustered 
out"  in  Nashville,  Tennessee.  In  the  most  intelligent  companies,  only 
one  man  in  eight  or  nine  could  sign  his  name.  Fewer  still  could  read. 
-C.  G.  L. 


14  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

to  imagine  how  the  giant  Abraham  came  to  be  in 
flexible  of  purpose  and  strong  of  will,  though  indolent 
— why  he  was  good-natured  to  excess  in  his  excess 
of  strength — and  why  he  was  a  great  humourist, 
and  at  the  same  time  a  melancholy  man. 

It  should  be  remembered  by  the  reader  that  the 
state  of  society  in  which  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
born  and  grew  up  resembled  nothing  now  existing 
in  Europe,  and  that  it  is  very  imperfectly  under 
stood  even  by  many  town-dwelling  Americans.  The 
people  around  him  were  all  poor  and  ignorant,  yet 
they  bore  their  poverty  lightly,  were  hardly  aware 
of  their  want  of  culture,  and  were  utterly  uncon 
scious  of  owing  the  least  respect  or  deference  to 
any  human  being.  Some  among  them  were,  of 
course,  aware  of  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from 
wealth  and  political  power ;  but  the  majority  knew 
not  how  to  spend  the  one,  and  were  indifferent  to 
the  other.  Even  to  this  day,  there  are  in  the  South 
and  South-West  scores  of  thousands  of  men  who, 
owning  vast  tracts  of  fertile  land,  and  gifted  with 
brains  and  muscle,  will  not  take  the  pains  to  build 
themselves  homes  better  than  ordinary  cabins,  or 
cultivate  more  soil  than  will  supply  life  with  plain 
and  unvaried  sustenance.  The  only  advantage  they 
have  is  the  inestimable  one,  if  properly  treated,  of 
being  free  from  all  trammels  save  those  of  ignorance. 
To  rightly  appreciate  the  good  or  evil  qualities  of  men 


Early  Privations.  15 

moulded  in  such  society,  requires  great  generosity, 
and  great  freedom  from  all  that  is  conventional. 

Within  the  first  few  years  of  her  married  life, 
Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln  bore  her  husband  three 
children.  The  first  was  a  daughter,  named  Sarah, 
who  married  at  fifteen,  and  died  soon  after ;  the 
second  was  Abraham  ;  and  the  third  Thomas,  who 
died  in  infancy.1  The  family  were  always  wretchedly 
poor,  even  below  the  level  of  their  neighbours  in 
want ;  and  as  the  father  was  indolent,  the  wife  was 
obliged  to  labour  and  suffer.  But  it  is  probable 
that  Mrs.  Lincoln,  who  could  read,  and  Thomas, 
who  attributed  his  failure  in  life  to  ignorance, 
wished  their  children  to  be  educated.  Schools  were, 
of  course,  scarce  in  a  country  where  the  houses 
are  often  many  miles  apart.  Zachariah  Riney,  a 
Catholic  priest,  was  Abraham's  first  teacher ;  his 
next  was  Caleb  Hazel.  The  young  pupil  learned 
to  read  and  write  in  a  few  weeks ;  but  in  all  his 
life,  reckoning  his  instruction  by  days,  he  had  only 
one  year's  schooling. 

When  Thomas  Lincoln  was  first  married  (1806), 
he  took  his  wife  to  live  in  Elizabethtown,  in  a 
wretched  shed,  which  has  since  been  used  as  a 
slaughter-house  and  stable.  About  a  year  after,  he 
removed  to  Nolin's  Creek.  Four  years  after  the 

1  J.  G.  Holland,  p.  22. 


1 6  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

birth  of  Abraham  (1809),  he  again  migrated  to  a 
more  picturesque  and  fertile  place,  a  few  miles  distant 
on  Knob  Creek.  Here  he  remained  .four  years,  and 
though  he  was  the  occupant  of  over  200  acres  of 
good  land,  never  cultivated  more  than  a  little  patch, 
"  being  satisfied  with  milk  and  meal  for  food." 
When  his  children  went  to  school  they  walked  eight 
miles,  going  and  returning,  having  only  maize 
bread  for  dinner.  In  1816,  the  father,  after  having 
sold  his  interest  in  the  farm  for  ten  barrels  of 
whiskey  and  twenty  dollars,  built  himself  a  crazy 
flat-boat,  and  set  sail  alone  on  the  Ohio,  seeking 
for  a  new  home.  By  accident,  the  boat  foundered, 
and  much  of  the  cargo  was  lost ;  but  Thomas 
Lincoln  pushed  on,  and  found  a  fitting  place  to 
settle  in  Indiana,  near  the  spot  on  which  the  village 
of  Gentryville  now  stands.  It  was  in  the  untrodden 
wilderness,  and  here  he  soon  after  brought  his  family, 
to  live  for  the  first  year  in  what  is  called  a  half-faced 
camp,  or  a  rough  hut  of  poles,  of  which  only  three 
sides  were  enclosed,  the  fourth  being  open  to  the 
air.  In  1817,  Betsy  Sparrow,  an  aunt  of  Mrs. 
Lincoln,  and  her  husband,  Thomas,  with  a  nephew 
named  Dennis  Hanks,  joined  the  Lincolns,  who 
removed  to  a  better  house,  if  that  could  be  called 
a  house  which  was  built  of  rough  logs,  and  had 
neither  floor,  door,  nor  window.  For  two  years  they 
continued  to  live  in  this  manner.  Lincoln,  a  car- 


Log-cabin  Life. 


penter,  was  too  lazy  to  make  himself  the  simplest 
furniture.  They  had  a  few  three-legged  stools  ;  the 
only  bed  was  made  in  a  singular  manner.  Its  head 
and  one  side  were  formed  by  a  corner  of  the  cabin, 
the  bed-post  was  a  single  crotch  cut  from  the 
forest.  Laid  upon  this  crotch  were  the  ends  of  two 
hickory  poles,  whose  other  extremities  were  placed 
in  two  holes  made  in  the  logs  of  the  wall.  On 
these  sticks  rested  "slats,"  or  boards  rudely  split 
from  trees  with  an  axe,  and  on  these  slats  was  laid 
a  bag  filled  with  dried  leaves.  This  was  the  bed  of 
Thomas  and  Nancy  Lincoln,  and  into  it  —  when  the 
skins  hung  at  the  cabin  entrance  did  not  keep  out 
the  cold  —  little  Abraham  and  his  sister  crept  for 
warmth.1  Very  little  is  recorded  of  the  childhood 
of  the  future  President.  He  was  once  nearly  drowned 
in  a  stream,  and  when  eight  years  of  age  shot  a 
wild  turkey,  which,  he  declared  in  after  life,  was  the 
largest  game  he  had  ever  killed  —  a  remarkab1^ 
statement  for  a  man  who  had  grown  up  in  a  deer 
country,  where  buck-skin  formed  the  common 
material  for  clothing,  and  venison  hams  passed  for 

1  J.  G.  Holland,  "  Life  of  Lincoln,"  p.  28.  The  children  probably 
slept  on  the  earth.  The  writer  has  seen  a  man,  owning  hundreds  of 
acres  of  rich  bottom  land,  living  in  a  log-hut,  nearly  such  as  is 
here  described.  There  was  only  a  single  stool,  an  iron  pot,  a  knife, 
and  a  gun  in  the  cabin,  but  no  bedstead,  the  occupant  and  his  wife 
sleeping  in  two  cavities  in  the  dirt-Moor.  Such  had  been  their  home 
for  years. 
B 


1 8  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

money.  One  thing  is  at  least  certain — that,  till  he 
was  ten  years  old,  the  poor  boy  was  ill-clad,  dirty, 
and  ill-used  by  his  father.  He  had,  however,  learned 
to  write. 

In  1818,  a  terrible  but  common  epidemic,  known 
in  Western  America  as  the  milk-fever,  broke  out  in 
Indiana,  and  within  a  few  days  Thomas  and  Betsy 
Sparrow  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  all  died.  They  had  no 
medical  attendance,  and  it  was  nine  months  before 
a  clergyman,  named  David  Elkin,  invited  by  the 
first  letter  which  Abraham  ever  wrote,  came  one 
hundred  miles  to  hold  the  funeral  service  and  preach 
over  the  graves.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the 
event  which  is  universally  regarded  as  the  saddest 
of  every  life,  in  the  case  of  Abraham  Lincoln  led 
directly  to  greater  happiness,  and  to  a  change  which 
conduced  to  the  development  of  all  his  better 
qualities.  Thirteen  months  after  the  death  of  Nancy 
Lincoln,  Thomas  married  a  widow,  Mrs.  Johnston, 
whom  he  had  wooed  ineffectually  in  Kentucky  when 
she  was  Miss  Sally  Bush.  She  was  a  woman  of 
sense,  industrious,  frugal,  and  gifted  with  a  pride 
which  inspired  her  to  lead  a  far  more  civilised  life 
than  that  which  satisfied  poor  Tom  Lincoln.  He 
had  greatly  exaggerated  to  her  the  advantages  of 
his  home  in  Indiana,  and  she  was  bitterly  dis 
appointed  when  they  reached  it.  Fortunately,  she 
owned  a  stock  of  good  furniture,  which  greatly 


A  Better  Home.  19 

astonished  little  Abraham  and  Sarah  and  their 
cousin  Dennis.  "  She  set  about  mending  matters  with 
great  energy,  and  made  her  husband  put  down  a 
floor,  and  hang  windows  and  doors."  It  was  in  the 
depth  of  winter,  and  the  children,  as  they  nestled 
in  the  warm  beds  she  had  provided,  enjoying  the 
strange  luxury  of  security  from  the  cold  winds  of 
December,  must  have  thanked  her  from  the  depths 
of  their  hearts.  She  had  brought  a  son  and  two 
daughters  of  her  own,  but  Abraham  and  his  sister 
had  an  equal  place  in  her  affections.  They  were 
half  naked,  and  she  clad  them ;  they  were  dirty, 
and  she  washed  them  ;  they  had  been  ill-used,  and 
she  treated  them  with  motherly  tenderness.  In  her 
own  language,  she  "made  them  look  a  little  more 
human."1 

This  excellent  woman  loved  Abraham  tenderly, 
and  her  love  was  warmly  returned.  After  his  death 
she  declared  to  Mr.  Herndon — "I  can  say  what  not 
one  mother  in  ten  thousand  can  of  a  boy — Abe 
never  gave  me  a  cross  look,  and  never  refused,  in  fact 
or  appearance,  to  do  anything  I  requested  him  ;  nor 

1  Lamon,  vol.  i.,  pp.  31  and  40.  Abraham's  father  is  said  by 
Dennis  Hanks  (from  whom  Mr.  Herndon,  Lamon's  authority,  derived 
much  information)  to  have  loved  his  son,  but  it  is  certain  that,  at  the 
same  time,  he  treated  him  very  cruelly.  Hanks  admits  that  he  had 
several  times  seen  little  Abraham  knocked  headlong  from  the  fence 
by  his  father,  while  civilly  answering  questions  put  by  travellers  as  to 
their  way. 


2O  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

did  I  ever  give  him  a  cross  word  in  all  my  life. 
His  mind  and  mine-— what  little  I  had — seemed  to 
run  together.  He  was  dutiful  to  me  always.  Abe 
was  the  best  boy  I  ever  saw,  or  ever  expect  to  see." 
"  When  in  after  years  Mr.  Lincoln  spoke  of  his 
'saintly  mother,'  and  of  his  *  angel  of  a  mother/ 
he  referred  to  this  noble  woman,  who  first  made  him 
feel  *  like  a  human  being' — whose  goodness  first 
touched  his  childish  heart,  and  taught  him  that 
blows  and  taunts  and  degradation  were  not  to  be 
his  only  portion  in  the  world."  And  if  it  be  recorded 
of  George  Washington  that  he  never  told  a  lie,  it 
should  also  be  remembered  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
who  carried  his  country  safely  through  a  greater 
crisis  than  that  of  the  Revolutionary  War,1  that  he 
always  obeyed  his  mother. 

Abraham  had  gone  to  school  only  a  few  weeks 
in  Kentucky,  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  soon  sent  him  again 
to  receive  instruction.  His  first  teacher  in  Indiana 
was  Hazel  Dorsey ;  his  next,  Andrew  Crawford. 
The  latter,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  branches  of 
education,  also  taught  "  manners."  One  scholar 
would  be  introduced  by  another,  while  walking  round 

1  W.  H.  Herndon,  who  was  for  many  years  the  law-partner  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  in  a  letter  to  me,  written  not  long  after  the  murder 
of  his  old  friend,  earnestly  asserted  his  opinion  that  the  late  President 
was  a  greater  man  than  General  Washington,  founding  his  opinion 
on  the  greater  difficulties  which  he  subdued. — C.  G.  L. 


Lincoln  s   Youth.  21 

the  log  schoolroom,  to  all  the  boys  and  girls,  taught 
to  bow  properly,  and  otherwise  acquire  the  ordinary 
courtesies  of  life.  Abraham  distinguished  himself 
in  spelling,  which  has  always  been  a  favourite  subject 
for  competition  in  rural  America,  and  he  soon  began 
to  write  short  original  articles,  though  composition 
formed  no  part  of  the  studies.  It  was  characteristic 
of  the  boy  that  his  first  essays  were  against  cruelty 
to  animals.  His  mates  were  in  the  habit  of  catching 
the  box-turtles,  or  land-terrapins,  or  tortoises,  and 
putting  live  coals  on  their  backs  to  make  them 
walk,  which  greatly  annoyed  Abraham.  All  who 
knew  him,  in  boyhood  or  in  later  life,  bear  witness 
that  this  tenderness  was  equal  to  his  calm  courage 
and  tremendous  physical  strength.  The  last  school 
which  he  attended  for  a  short  time,  and  to  reach 
which  he  walked  every  day  nine  miles,  was  kept  by 
a  Mr.  Swaney.  This  was  in  1826. 

Abraham  was  now  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  had 
grown  so  rapidly  that  he  had  almost  attained  the 
height  which  he  afterwards  reached  of  six  feet  four 
inches.  He  was  very  dark,  his  skin  was  shrivelled 
even  in  boyhood  by  constant  exposure,  and  he 
habitually  wore  low  shoes,  a  linsey-woolsey  shirt, 
a  cap  made  from  the  skin  of  a  raccoon  or  opossum, 
and  buckskin  breeches,  which  were  invariably  about 
twelve  inches  too  short  for  him.  When  not  working: 

o 

for  his  father,  he  was  hired  out  as  a  farm-labourer 


22  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

to  the  neighbours.  His  cousin,  John  Hanks,  says — 
"  We  worked  barefoot,  grubbed  it,  ploughed,  mowed, 
and  cradled  together." 

All  who  knew  him  at  this  time  testify  that 
Abraham  hated  hard -work,  though  he  did  it  well — 
that  he  was  physically  indolent,  though  intellectually 
very  active— that  he  loved  to  laugh,  tell  stories,  and 
joke  while  labouring — and  that  he  passed  his  leisure 
moments  in  hard  study  or  in  reading,  which  he  made 
hard  by  writing  out  summaries  of  all  he  read,  and 
getting  them  by  heart.  He  would  study  arithmetic 
at  night  by  the  light  of  the  fire,  and  cipher  or  copy 
with  a  pencil  or  coal  on  the  wooden  shovel  or  on 
a  board.  When  this  was  full,  he  would  shave  it 
off  with  his  father's  drawing-knife,  and  begin  again. 
When  he  had  paper,  he  used  it  instead ;  but  in  the 
frequent  intervals  when  he  had  none,  the  boards 
were  kept  until  paper  was  obtained.  Among  the 
first  books  which  he  read  and  thoroughly  mastered 
were  "yEsop's  Fables,"  " Robinson  Crusoe,"  Bunyan's 
"Pilgrim's  Progress,"  a  "History  of  the  United  States," 
Weem's  "Life  of  Washington,"  and  "The  Revised 
Statutes  of  Indiana."  From  another  work,  "The 
Kentucky  Preceptor,"  a  collection  of  literary  extracts, 
he  is  said  by  a  Mrs.  Crawford,  who  knew  him  well, 
to  have  "learned  his  school  orations,  speeches,  and 
pieces  to  write."  The  field-work,  which  Abraham 
Lincoln  disliked,  did  not,  however,  exhaust  his  body, 


Memory  and  Industry.  23 

and  his  mind  found  relief  after  toil  in  mastering 
anything  in  print.1  It  is  not  unusual  to  see  poor 
and  ignorant  youths  who  are  determined  to  "get 
learning,"  apply  themselves  to  the  hardest  and  dryest 
intellectual  labour  with  very  little  discrimination 
of  any  difference  between  that  and  more  attractive 
literature,  and  it  is  evident  that  young  Lincoln 
worked  in  this  spirit.  There  is  no  proof  that  his 
memory  was  by  nature  extraordinary — it  would 
rather  seem  that  the  contrary  was  the  case,  from 
the  pains  which  he  took  to  improve  it.  During  his 
boyhood,  any  book  had  to  him  all  the  charm  of 
rarity ;  perhaps  it  was  the  more  charming  because 
most  of  his  friends  believed  that  mental  culture  was 
incompatible  with  industry.  "  Lincoln,"  said  his 
cousin,  Dennis  Hanks,  "  was  lazy — a  very  lazy  man. 
He  was  always  reading,  scribbling,  writing,  ciphering, 
writing  poetry,  and  the  like."  It  is  evident  that 
his  custom  of  continually  exercising  his  memory  on 
all  subjects  grew  with  his  growth  and  strengthened 
with  his  strength.  By  the  time  he  was  twenty-five, 
he  had,  without  instruction,  made  himself  a  good 
lawyer — not  a  mere  "  case-practitioner,"  but  one  who 
argued  from  a  sound  knowledge  of  principles.  It 
is  said  that  when  he  began  to  read  Blackstone,  he 
thoroughly  learned  the  first  forty  pages  at  one 

1  "Abraham's    poverty   of  books  was    the   wealth  of  his    life."— 
J.  G.  HOLLAND. 


24  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

sitting.  There  is  also  sufficient  proof  that  he  had 
perfectly  mastered  not  only  "Euclid's  Geometry,"  but 
a  number  of  elementary  scientific  works,  among 
others  one  on  astronomy.  And  many  anecdotes 
of  his  later  life  prove  that  he  learned  nothing  without 
thinking  it  over  deeply,  especially  in  all  its  relations 
to  his  other  acquisitions  and  its  practical  use.  If 
education  consists  of  mental  discipline  and  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge,  it  is  idle  to  say  that 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  uneducated,  since  few  college 
graduates  actually  excelled  him  in  either  respect. 
These  facts  deserve  dwelling  on,  since,  in  the  golden 
book  of  self-made  men,  there  is  not  one  who  presents 
a  more  encouraging  example  to  youth,  and  especially 
to  the  poor  and  ambitious,  than  Abraham  Lincoln. 
He  developed  his  memory  by  resolutely  training 
it — he  brought  out  his  reasoning  powers  as  a  lawyer 
by  using  his  memory — he  became  a  fluent  speaker 
and  a  ready  reasoner  by  availing  himself  of  every 
opportunity  to  speak  or  debate.  From  the  facts 
which  have  been  gathered  by  his  biographers,  or 
which  are  current  in  conversation  among  those 
who  knew  him,  it  is  most  evident  that  there 
seldom  lived  a  man  who  owed  so  little  to  innate 
genius  or  talents,  in  comparison  to  what  he 
achieved  by  sheer  determination  and  perseverance. 

When  Abraham  was  fifteen  or  sixteen,  he  began 
to    exercise    his    memory    in    a   new   direction,   by 


Kindness  of  Heart.  25 

frequenting  not  only  religious  but  political  meetings, 
and  by  mounting  the  stump  of  a  tree  the  day  after 
and  repeating  with  great  accuracy  all  he  had  heard. 
It  is  said  that  he  mimicked  with  great  skill  not 
only  the  tones  of  preachers  and  orators,  but  also 
their  gestures  and  facial  expressions.  Anything 
like  cruelty  to  man  or  beast  would  always  inspire 
him  to  an  original  address,  in  which  he  would  preach 
vigorously  against  inflicting  pain.  Wherever  he 
spoke  an  audience  was  sure  to  assemble,  and  as  this 
frequently  happened  in  the  harvest-field,  the  youthful 
orator  or  actor  was  often  dragged  down  by  his  angry 
father  and  driven  to  his  work.  His  wit  and  humour, 
his  inexhaustible  fund  of  stories,  and,  above  all, 
his  kind  heart,  made  him  everywhere  a  favourite. 
Women,  says  Mr.  Lamon,  were  especially  pleased, 
for  he  was  always  ready  to  do  any  kind  of  work  for 
them,  such  as  chopping  wood,  making  a  fire,  or 
nursing  a  baby.  Any  family  was  glad  when  he  was 
hired  to  work  with  them,  since  he  did  his  work 
well,  and  made  them  all  merry  while  he  was  about 
it.  In  1825,  he  was  employed  by  James  Taylor  as 
a  ferry-man,  to  manage  a  boat  which  crossed  the 
Ohio  and  Anderson's  Creek.  In  addition  to  this 
he  worked  on  the  farm,  acted  as  hostler,  ground 
corn,  built  the  fires,  put  the  water  early  on  the 
fire,  and  prepared  for  the  mistress's  cooking.  Though 
he  was  obliged  to  rise  so  early,  he  always  studied  till 


26  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


nearly  midnight.  He  was  in  great  demand  when 
hogs  were  slaughtered.  For  this  rough  work  he 
was  paid  31  cents  (about  l6d.)  a-day.  Meanwhile, 
he  became  incredibly  strong.  He  could  carry  six 
hundred  pounds  with  ease  ;  he  once  picked  up  some 
huge  posts  which  four  men  were  about  to  lift,  and 
bore  them  away  with  little  effort.  Men  yet  alive 
have  seen  him  lift  a  full  barrel  of  liquor  and  drink 
from  the  bung-hole.  "  He  could  sink  an  axe,"  said 
an  old  friend,  "  deeper  into  wood  than  any  man  I 
ever  saw."  He  was  especially  skilled  in  wrestling, 
and  from  the  year  1828  there  was  no  man,  far  or 
near,  who  would  compete  with  him  in  it.1  From 
his  boyhood,  he  was  extremely  temperate.  Those 
who  have  spoken  most  freely  of  his  faults  admit 
that,  in  a  country  where  a  whiskey-jug  was  kept 
in  every  house,  Lincoln  never  touched  spirits  except 
to  avoid  giving  offence.  His  stepmother  thought 
he  was  temperate  to  a  fault. 

Meanwhile,  as  the  youth  grew  apace,  the  neigh 
bouring  village  of  Gentryville  had  grown  with  him. 
Books  and  cultivated  society  became  more  accessible. 
The  great  man  of  the  place  was  a  Mr.  Jones,  the 
storekeeper,  whose  shop  supplied  all  kinds  of  goods 
required  by  farmers.  Mr.  Jones  took  a  liking  to 
young  Lincoln,  employed  him  sometimes,  taught 

1  Lamon,  p.  54. 


Lincoln  as  a   Writer.  27 

him  politics,  giving  him  deep  impressions  in  favour 
of  Andrew  Jackson,  the  representative  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party,  and  finally  awoke  Abraham's  ambition 
by  admiring  him,  and  predicting  that  he  would  some 
day  be  a  great  man.  Another  friend  was  John 
Baldwin,  the  village  blacksmith,  who  was,  even  for 
a  Western  American  wag,  wonderfully  clever  at  a 
jest,  and  possessed  of  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  stories. 
It  was  from  John  Baldwin  that  Lincoln  derived  a 
great  number  of  the  quaint  anecdotes  with  which 
he  was  accustomed  in  after  years  to  illustrate  his 
arguments.  His  memory  contained  thousands  of 
these  drolleries ;  so  that,  eventually,  there  was  no 
topic  of  conversation  which  did  not  "put  him  in 
mind  of  a  little  story."  In  some  other  respects, 
his  acquisitions  were  less  useful.  Though  he  knew 
a  vast  number  of  ballads,  he  could  not  sing  one  ;  and 
though  a  reader  of  Burns,  certain  of  his  own  satires 
and  songs,  levelled  at  some  neighbours  who  had 
slighted  him,  were  mere  doggerel,  wanting  every 
merit,  and  very  bitter.  But,  about  1827,  he  con 
tributed  an  article  on  temperance  and  another  on 
American  politics  to  two  newspapers,  published 
in  Ohio.  From  the  praise  awarded  by  a  lawyer, 
named  Pritchard,  to  the  political  article,  it  would 
appear  to  have  been  very  well  written.  Even -in 
this  first  essay  in  politics,  Lincoln  urged  the  principle 
by  which  he  became  famous,  and  for  which  he  died — 


28  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

adherence    to   the  constitution   and   the  integrity  of 
the  American  Union. 

In  March,  1828,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  hired  by 
Mr.  Gentry,  the  proprietor  of  Gentryville,  as  "bow- 
hand,"  and  "  to  work  the  front  oars,"  on  a  boat 
going  with  a  cargo  of  bacon  to  New  Orleans.  This 
was  a  trip  of  1800  miles,  and  then,  as  now,  the  life 
of  an  Ohio  and  Mississippi  boatman  was  full  of  wild 
adventure.  One  incident  which  befel  the  future 
President  was  sufficiently  strange.  Having  arrived 
at  a  sugar-plantation  six  miles  below  Baton  Rouge, 
the  boat  was  pulled  in,  and  Lincoln,  with  his  com 
panion,  a  son  of  Mr.  Gentry,  went  to  sleep.  Hearing 
footsteps  in  the  night,  they  sprang  up,  and  saw 
that  a  gang  of  seven  negroes  were  coining  on  board 
to  rob  or  murder.  Seizing  a  hand-spike,  Lincoln 
rushed  towards  them,  and  as  the  leader  jumped  on 
the  boat,  knocked  him  into  the  water.  The  second, 
third,  and  fourth,  as  they  leaped  aboard,  were  served 
in  the  same  way,  and  the  others  fled,  but  were  pursued 
by  Lincoln  and  Gentry,  who  inflicted  on  them  a 
severe  beating.  In  this  encounter,  Abraham  received 
a  wound  the  scar  of  which  he  bore  through  life. 
It  is  very  probable  that  among  these  negroes  who 
would  have  taken  the  life  of  the  future  champion 
of  emancipation,  there  were  some  who  lived  to  share 
its  benefits  and  weep  for  his  death.1 

1  Holland  and  Lamon. 


A  Hopefiil  Incident.  29 

It  was  during  this  voyage,  or  about  this  time, 
that  two  strangers  paid  Abraham  half  a  silver  dollar 
each  for  rowing  them  ashore  .in  a  boat.  Relating 
this  to  Mr.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State,  he  said — • 
"You  may  think  it  was  a  very  little  thing,  but  it 
was  a  most  important  incident  in  my  life.  I  could 
scarcely  believe  that  I,  a  poor  boy,  had  earned  a 
dollar  in  less  than  a  day.  I  was  a  more  hopeful  and 
confident  being  from  that  time." 


CHAPTER     II. 

Lincoln's  Appearance — His  First  Public  Speech — Again  at  New  Orleans — 
Mechanical  Genius— Clerk  in  a  Country  Store — Elected  Captain— The 
Black  Hawk  War — Is  a  successful  Candidate  for  the  Legislature — 
Becomes  a  Storekeeper,  Land-Surveyor,  and  Postmaster — His  First  Love 
— The  "Long  Nine" — First  Step  towards  Emancipation. 

IN  1830,  Thomas  Lincoln  had  again  tired  of  his 
home,  and  resolved  to  move  Westward.  This 
time  he  did  not  change  without  good  reason  :  an 
epidemic  had  appeared  in  his  Indiana  neighbourhood, 
which  was  besides  generally  unhealthy.  Therefore, 
in  the  spring,  he  and  Abraham,  with  Dennis  Hanks 
and  Levi  Hall,  who  had  married  one  of  Mrs.  Lincoln's 
daughters  by  her  first  husband,  with  their  families, 
thirteen  in  all,  having  packed  their  furniture  on  a 
waggon,  drawn  by  four  oxen,  took  the  road  for 
Illinois.  After  journeying  200  miles  in  fifteen  days, 
Thomas  Lincoln  settled  in  Moron  County,  on  the 
Sangamon  River,  about  ten  miles  west  of  Decatur. 
Here  they  built  a  cabin  of  hewn  timber,  with  a 
smoke-house  for  drying  meat,  and  a  stable,  and 
broke  up  and  fenced  fifteen  acres  of  land. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  now  twenty-one,  and  his 
father  had  been  a  hard  master,  taking  all  his  wages. 
He  therefore,  after  doing  his  best  to  settle  the 


Lincoln  s  First  Speech.  31 

family  in  their  new  home,  went  forth  to  work  for 
himself  among  the  farmers.  One  George  Cluse,  who 
worked  with  Abraham  during  the  first  year  in 
Illinois,  says  that  at  that  time  he  was  "the  roughest- 
looking  person  he  ever  saw :  he  was  tall,  angular, 
and  ungainly,  and  wore  trousers  of  flax  and  tow, 
cut  tight  at  the  ankle  and  out  at  the  knees.  He 
was  very  poor,  and  made  a  bargain  with  Mrs.  Nancy 
Miller  to  split  400  rails  for  every  yard  of  brown 
jean,  dyed  with  walnut  bark,  that  would  be  required 
to  make  him  a  pair  of  trousers." 

Thomas  Lincoln  found,  in  less  than  a  year,  that 
his  new  home  was  the  most  unhealthy  of  all  he 
had  tried.  So  he  went  Westward  again,  moving  to 
three  new  places  until  he  settled  at  Goose  Nest 
Prairie,  in  Coles  County,  where  he  died  at  the  age 
of  seventy-three,  "  as  usual,  in  debt."  From  the  time 
of  his  death,  and  as  he  advanced  in  prosperity, 
Abraham  aided  his  stepmother  in  many  ways  besides 
sending  her  money.  It  was  at  Decatur  that  he  made 
his  first  public  speech,  standing  on  a  keg.  It  was 
on  the  navigation  of  the  Sangamon  River,  and  was 
delivered  extemporaneously  in  reply  to  one  by  a 
candidate  for  the  Lag islature,  named  Posey, 

During  the  winter  of  1831,  a  trader,  named  Denton 
OfTutt,  proposed  to  John  Hanks,  Abraham  Lincoln, 
and  John  D.  Johnston,  his  stepmother's  son,  to  take 
a  flat-boat  to  New  Orleans.  The  wages  offered  were 


32  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

very  high — fifty  cents  a  day  to  each  man,  and  sixty 
dollars  to  be  divided  among  them  at  the  end  of  the 
trip.  After  some  delay,  the  boat,  loaded  with  corn, 
pigs,  and  pork,  sailed,  but  just  below  New  Salem, 
on  the  Sangamon,  it  stuck  on  a  dam,  but  was  saved 
by  the  great  ingenuity  of  Lincoln,  who  invented 
a  novel  apparatus  for  getting  it  over.  This  seems 
to  have  turned  his  mind  to  the  subject  of  overcoming 
such  difficulties  of  navigation,  and  in  1849  he 
obtained  a  patent  for  "  an  improved  method  of  lifting 
vessels  over  shoals."  The  design  is  a  bellows  attached 
to  each  side  of  the  hull,  below  the  water-line,  to 
be  pumped  full  of  air  when  it  is  desired  to  lift  the 
craft  over  a  shoal.  The  model,  which  is  eighteen 
or  twenty  inches  long,  and  which  is  now  in  the 
Patent  Office  at  Washington,  appears  to  have  been 
cut  with  a  knife  from  a  shingle  and  a  cigar-box.1 
John  Hanks,  apparently  a  most  trustworthy  and 
excellent  man,  declared  that  it  was  during  this  trip, 
while  at  New  Orleans,  Lincoln  first  saw  negroes 
chained,  maltreated,  and  whipped.  It  made  a  deep 
impression  on  his  humane  mind,  and,  years  after, 
he  often  declared  that  witnessing  this  cruelty  first 
induced  him  to  think  slavory  wrong.  At  New 
Orleans  the  flat-boat  discharged  its  cargo,  and  was 
sold  for  its  timber.  Lincoln  returned  on  a  steamboat 

1   Vide  Ripley  and  Dana's   "  Cyclopaedia ;"  also,  article  from  the 
Boston  "Commercial  Advertiser,"  cited  by  Lamon. 


His  First  Official  Act.  33 

to  St.  Louis,  and  thence  walked  home.  He  had 
hardly  returned,  before  he  received  a  challenge  from 
a  famous  wrestler,  named  Daniel  Needham.  There 
was  a  great  assembly  at  Wabash  Point,  to  witness 
the  match,  where  Needham  was  thrown  with  so 
much  ease  that  his  pride  was  more  hurt  than  his 
body. 

In  July,  1831,  Abraham  again  engaged  himself 
to  Mr.  Offutt,  to  take  charge  of  a  country  store  at 
New  Salem.  While  awaiting  his  employer,  an 
election  was  held,  and  a  clerk  was  wanted  at  the 
polls.  The  stranger,  Abraham,  being  asked  whether 
he  was  competent  to  fill  the  post,  said,  "  I  will  try," 
and  performed  the  duties  well.  This  was  the  first 
public  official  act  of  his  life ;  and  as  soon  as  OfTutt's 
goods  arrived,  Lincoln,  from  a  day-labourer,  became 
a  clerk,  or  rather  salesman,  in  which  capacity  he 
remained  for  one  year,  or  until  the  spring  of  1832, 
when  his  employer  failed.  Many  incidents  are 
narrated  of  Lincoln's  honesty  towards  customers 
during  this  clerkship — of  his  strict  integrity  in  trifles 
— his  bravery  when  women  were  annoyed  by  bullies — 
and  of  his  prowess  against  a  gang  of  ruffians  who 
infested  and  ruled  the  town.  He  is  said  to  have 
more  than  once  walked  several  miles  after  business 
hours  to  return  six  cents,  or  some  equally  trifling 
sum,  when  he  had  been  overpaid.  It  is  very  evident 
that  he  managed  all  matters  with  so  much  tact  as 


34  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

to  make  fast  friends  of  everybody,  and  was  specially 
a  favourite  of  the  men  with  whom  he  fought.  It 
was  now  that  he  began* to  cultivate  popularity,  quietly, 
but  with  the  same  determination  which  he  had  shown 
in  acquiring  knowledge.  To  his  credit  be  it  said, 
that  he  effected  this  neither  by  flattery  nor  servility, 
but  by  making  the  most  of  his  good  qualities,  and 
by  inducing  respect  for  his  honesty,  intelligence, 
and  bravery.  It  is  certain  that,  during  a  year, 
Mr.  Ofifutt  was  continually  stimulating  his  ambition, 
and  insisting  that  he  knew  more  than  any  man  in 
the  United  States,  and  would  some  day  be  President. 
Lincoln  himself  knew  very  well  by  this  time  of  what 
stuff  many  of  the  men  were  made  who  rose  in 
politics,  and  that,  with  a  little  luck  and  perseverance, 
he  could  hold  his  own  with  them.  When  out  of 
the  "store,"  he  was  always  busy,  as  of  old,  in  the 
pursuit  of  knowledge.  He  mastered  the  English 
grammar,  remarking  that,  "if  that  was  what  they 
called  a  science,  he  thought  he  could  subdue  another." 
A  Mr.  Green,  who  became  his  fellow-clerk,  declares 
that  his  talk  now  showed  that  he  was  beginning  to 
think  of  "  a  great  life  and  a  great  destiny."  He 
busied  himself  very  much  with  debating  clubs, 
walking  many  miles  to  attend  them,  and  for  years 
continued  to  take  the  "  Louisville  Journal,"  famous 
for  the  lively  wit  of  its  editor,  George  D.  Prentice, 
and  for  this  newspaper  he  paid  regularly  when  he 


His  Resolute  Perseverance.  35 

had  not  the  means  to  buy  decent  clothing.  From 
this  time  his  life  rapidly  increases  in  interest.  It 
is  certain  that,  from  early  youth,  he  had  quietly 
determined  to  become  great,  and  that  he  thoroughly 
tested  his  own  talents  and  acquirements  before 
entering  upon  politics  as  a  career.  His  chief  and 
indeed  his  almost  only  talent  was  resolute  persever 
ance,  and  by  means  of  it  he  passed  in  the  race  of  life 
thousands  who  were  his  superiors  in  genius.  Among 
all  the  biographies  of  the  great  and  wise  and  good 
among  mankind,  there  is  not  one  so  full  of  encourage 
ment  to  poor  young  men  as  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
since  there  is  not  one  which  so  illustrates  not  only 
how  mere  personal  success  may  be  attained,  but 
how,  by  strong  will  'and  self-culture,  the  tremendous 
task  of  guiding  a  vast  country  through  the  trials 
of  a  civil  war  may  be  successfully  achieved. 

In  the  spring  of  1832,  Mr.  Offutt  failed,  and 
Lincoln  had  nothing  to  do.  For  some  time  past, 
an  Indian  rebellion,  led  by  the  famous  Black  Hawk, 
Chief  of  the  Sac  tribe,  had  caused  the  greatest  alarm 
in  the  Western  States.  About  the  beginning  of  this 
century  (1804-5),  tne  Sacs  had  been  removed  west 
of  the  Mississippi ;  but  Black  Hawk,  believing  that 
his  people  had  been  unjustly  exiled,  organised  a 
conspiracy  which  for  a  while  embraced  nine  of 
the  most  powerful  tribes  of  the  North-West,  and 
announced  his  intention  of  returning  and  settling  in 


36  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

the  old  hunting-grounds  of  his  people  on  the  Rock 
River.  He  was  a  man  of  great  courage  and  shrewd 
ness,  skilled  as  an  orator,  and  dreaded  as  one  gifted 
with  supernatural  power,  combining  in  his  person 
the  war-chief  and  prophet.  But  the  returning 
Indians,  by  committing  great  barbarities  on  the  way, 
caused  such  irritation  and  alarm  among  the  white 
settlers,  that  when  Governor  Reynolds;  of  Illinois, 
issued  a  call  for  volunteers,  several  regiments  of 
hardy  frontiersmen  were  at  once  formed.  Black 
Hawk's  allies,  with  the  exception  of  the  tribe  of 
the  Foxes,  at  once  fell  away,  but  their  desperate 
leader  kept  on  in  his  course.  Among  the  companies 
which  volunteered  was  one  from  Menard  County, 
embracing  many  men  from  New  Salem.  The  captain 
was  chosen  by  vote,  and  the  choice  fell  on  Lincoln. 
He  was  accustomed  to  say,  when  President,  that 
nothing  in  his  life  had  ever  gratified  him  so  much 
as  this  promotion ;  and  this  may  well  have  been, 
since,  to  a  very  ambitious  man,  the  first  practical 
proofs  of  popularity  are  like  the  first  instalment  of  a 
great  fortune  paid  to  one  who  is  poor. 

Though  he  was  never  in  an  actual  engagement 
during  this  campaign,  Lincoln  underwent  much 
hunger  and  hardship  while  it  lasted,  and  at  times 
had  great  trouble  with  his  men,  who  were  not  only 
mere  raw  militia,  but  also  unusually  rough  and 
rebellious.  One  incident  of  the  war,  however, 


The  Old  Indian.  37 

as  narrated  by  Lamon,  not  only  indicates  that 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  sometimes  in  danger,  but 
was  well  qualified  to  grapple  with  it. 

"  One  day,  during  these  many  marches  and 
countermarches,  an  old  Indian,  weary,  hungry,  and 
helpless,  found  his  way  into  the  camp.  He  professed 
to  be  a  friend  of  the  whites  ;  and,  although  it  was 
an  exceedingly  perilous  experiment  for  one  of  his 
colour,  he  ventured  to  throw  himself  upon  the  mercy 
of  the  soldiers.  But  the  men  first  murmured,  and  then 
broke  out  into  fierce  cries  for  his  blood.  "  We  have 
come  out  to  fight  Indians,"  they  said,  "  and  we  intend 
to  do  it."  The  poor  Indian,  now  in  the  extremity 
of  his  distress  and  peril,  did  what  he  should  have 
done  before — he  threw  down  before  his  assailants  a 
soiled  and  crumpled  paper,  which  he  implored  them 
to  read  before  taking  his  life.  It  was  a  letter  of 
character  and  safe  conduct  from  General  Cass,  pro 
nouncing  him  a  faithful  man,  who  had  done  good 
service  in  the  cause  for  which  this  army  was  enlisted. 
But  it  was  too  late ;  the  men  refused  to  read  it, 
or  thought  it  a  forgery,  and  were  rushing  with  fury 
upon  the  defenceless  old  savage,  when  Captain 
Lincoln  bounded  between  them  and  their  appointed 
victim.  "  Men,"  said  he,  and  his  voice  for  a  moment 
stilled  the  agitation  around  him,  "this  must  not  be 
done — he  must  not  be  shot  and  killed  by  us."  "  But," 
said  some  of  them,  "the  Indian  is  a  spy."  Lincoln 


38  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

knew  that  his  own  life  was  now  in  only  less  danger 
than  that  of  the  poor  creature  that  crouched  behind 
him.  During  this  scene,  the  towering  form  and 
the  passion  and  resolution  in  Lincoln's  face  produced 
an  effect  upon  the  furious  mob.  They  paused, 
listened,  fell  back,  and  then  sullenly  obeyed  what 
seemed  to  be  the  voice  of  reason  as  well  as  authority. 
But  there  were  still  some  murmurs  of  disappointed 
rage,  and  half-suppressed  exclamations  which  looked 
towards  vengeance  of  some  kind.  At  length  one  of 
the  men,  a  little  bolder  than  the  rest,  but  evidently 
feeling  that  he  spoke  for  the  whole,  cried  out — 
"This  is  cowardly  on  your  part,  Lincoln!"  "If 
any  man  think  I  am  a  coward,  let  him  test  it," 
was  the  reply.  "Lincoln,"  responded  a  new  voice, 
"you  are  larger  and  heavier  than  we  are."  "  This  you 
can  guard  against ;  choose  your  weapons,"  returned 
the  Captain.  Whatever  may  be  said  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
choice  of  means  for  the  preservation  of  military 
discipline,  it  was  certainly  very  effectual  in  this  case. 
There  was  no  more  disaffection  in  his  camp,  and 
the  word  "coward"  was  never  coupled  with  his 
name  again.  Mr.  Lincoln  understood  his  men  better 
than  those  who  would  be  disposed  to  criticise  his 
conduct.  He  has  often  declared  himself  that  "his 
life  and  character  were  both  at  stake,  and  would 
probably  have  been  lost,  had  he  not  at  that  supremely 
critical  moment  forgotten  the  officer  and  asserted 


He  Enlists  again.  39 

the  man."  The  soldiers,  in  fact,  could  not  have  been 
arrested,  tried,  or  punished  ;  they  were  merely  wild 
backwoodsmen,  "  acting  entirely  by  their  own  will, 
and  any  effort  to  court-martial  them  would  simply 
have  failed  in  its  object,  and  made  their  Captain 
seem  afraid  of  them." 

During  this  campaign,  Lincoln  made  the  acquaint 
ance  of  a  lawyer — then  captain — the  Hon.  T.  Stuart, 
who  had  subsequently  a  great  influence  on  his  career. 
When  the  company  was  mustered  out  in  May, 
Lincoln  at  once  re-enlisted  as  a  private  in  a  volunteer 
spy  company,  where  he  remained  for  a  month,  until 
the  Battle  of  Bad  Axe,  which  resulted  in  the  capture 
of  Black  Hawk,  put  an  end  to  hostilities.  This  war 
was  not  a  remarkable  affair,  says  J.  G.  Holland, 
but  it  was  remarkable  that  the  two  simplest,  homeliest, 
and  truest  men  engaged  in  it  afterwards  became 
Presidents  of  the  United  States — namely,  General, 
then  Colonel,  Zachary  Taylor  and  Abraham  Lincoln. 

It  has  always  been  usual  in  the  United  States 
to  urge  to  the  utmost  the  slightest  military  services 
rendered  by  candidates  for  office.  The  absurd  degree 
to  which  this  was  carried  often  awoke  the  satire  of 
Lincoln,  even  when  it  was  at  his  own  expense.  Many 
years  after,  he  referred  thus  humorously  to  his 
military  services1 : — 

1  Raymond,  "Life  and  Public  Services  of  Abraham  Lincoln, "p.  25. 


4O  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

"By  the  way,  Mr.  Speaker,  did  you  know  I  was 
a  military  hero?  Yes,  sir,  in  the  days  cf  the  Black 
Hawk  war  I  fought,  bled,  and  came  away.  Speaking 
of  General  Cass's  career  reminds  me  cf  my  own. 
I  was  not  at  Sullivan's  defeat,  but  I  was  about  as 
near  to  it  as  Cass  was  to  Hull's  surrender,  and, 
like  him,  I  saw  the  place  soon  after.  It  is  quite 
certain  that  I  did  not  break  my  sword,  for  I  had 
none  to  break  j1  but  I  bent  my  musket  pretty  badly 
on  one  occasion.  If  Cass  broke  his  sword,  the 
idea  is  he  broke  it  in  desperation.  I  bent  the  musket 
by  accident.  If  General  Cass  went  in  advance  cf 
me  in  picking  whortleberries,  I  guess  I  surpassed 
him  in  charges  upon  the  wild  onions.  If  he  saw 
any  live  fighting  Indians,  it  was  more  than  I  did  ; 
but  I  had  a  great  many  bloody  struggles  with 
the  mosquitoes,  and,  although  I  never  fainted  from 
loss  cf  blood,  I  certainly  can  say  I  was  often  very 
hungry." 

The  soldiers  from  Sangamon  County  arrived  home 
just  ten  days  before  the  State  election,  and  Lincoln 
was  immediately  applied  to  for  permission  to  place 


1  Mr.  Lincoln  "spoke  forgetfully"  on  this  occasion.  Owing  to 
the  drunkenness  and  insubordination  of  his  men,  which  he  could  not 
help,  he  was  once  obliged  to  carry  a  wooden  sword  for  two  days. — 
Lamon,  p.  104.  On  a  previous  occasion,  he  had  been  under  arrest, 
and  was  deprived  of  his  iword  for  one  day,  for  firing  a  pistol  within 
ten  steps  of  camp. — Ibid.,  p.  103. 


His  Political  Integrity.  41 

his  name  among  the  candidates  for  the  Legislature.1 
He  canvassed  the  district,  but  was  defeated,  though 
he  received  the  almost  unanimous  vote  of  his  own 
precinct.  The  young  man  had,  however,  made  a 
great  advance  even  by  defeat,  since  he  became  known 
by  it  as  one  whose  sterling  honesty  had  deserved 
a  better  reward.  Lincoln's  integrity  was,  in  this 
election,  strikingly  evinced  by  his  adherence  to  his 
political  principles ;  had  he  been  less  scrupulous, 
he  would  not  have  lost  the  election.  At  this  time 
there  were  two  great  political  parties — the  Demo 
cratic,  headed  by  Andrew  Jackson,  elected  President 
in  1832,  and  that  which  had  been  the  Federalist,  but 
which  was  rapidly  being  called  Whig.  The  Demo 
cratic  party  warred  against  a  national  bank,  paper 
money,  "  monopolies "  or  privileged  and  chartered 
institutions,  a  protective  tariff,  and  internal  improve 
ments,  and  was,  in  short,  jealous  of  all  public 
expenditure  which  could  tend  to  greatly  enrich 
individuals.  Its  leader,  Jackson,  was  a  man  of 
inflexible  determination  and  unquestionable  bravery, 
which  he  had  shown  not  only  in  battle,  but  by 
subduing  the  incipient  rebellion  in  South  Carolina, 
when  that  state  had  threatened  to  nullify  or  secede 
from  the  Union.  Lincoln's  heart  was  with  Jackson  ; 
he  had  unbounded  admiration  for  the  man,  but  he 

1  Holland,  p.  53. 


42  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

knew  that  the  country  needed  internal  improvements, 
and  in  matters  of  political  economy  inclined  to  the 
Whigs. 

After  returning  from  the  army,  he  went  to  live  in 
the  house  of  W.  H.  Herndon,  a  most  estimable  man, 
to  whose  researches  the  world  owes  nearly  all  that 
is  known  of  Lincoln's  early  life  and  family,  and 
who  was  subsequently  his  law-partner.  At  this  time 
the  late  Captain  thought  of  becoming  a  blacksmith, 
but  as  an  opportunity  occurred  of  buying  a  store  in 
New  Salem  on  credit,  he  became,  in  company  with 
a  man  named  Berry,  a  country  merchant,  or  trader. 

He  showed  little  wisdom  in  associating  himself 
with  Berry,  who  proved  a  drunkard,  and  ruined 
the  business,  after  a  year  of  anxiety,  leaving  Lincoln 
in  debt,  which  he  struggled  to  pay  off  through  many 
years  of  trouble.  It  was  not  until  1849  that  the 
last  note  was  discharged.  His  creditors  were,  how 
ever,  considerate  and  kind.  While  living  with  Mr. 
Herndon,  Lincoln  began  to  study  law  seriously.  He 
had  previously  read  Blackstone,  and  by  one  who  has 
really  mastered  this  grand  compendium  of  English 
law  the  profession  is  already  half-acquired.  He 
was  still  very  poor,  and  appears  to  have  lived  by 
helping  a  Mr.  Ellis  in  his  shop,  and  to  have  received 
much  willing  aid  from  friends,  especially  John  T. 
Stuart,  who  always  cheerfully  supplied  his  wants, 
and  lent  him  law-books. 


Surveyor  and  Post-Office  Keeper.         43 

About  this  time,  Lincoln  attracted  the  attention 
of  a  noted  Democrat,  John  Calhoun,  the  surveyor 
of  Sangamon  County,  who  afterwards  became  famous 
as  President  of  the  Lecompton  Council  in  Kansas, 
during  the  disturbances  between  the  friends  and 
opponents  of  slavery  prior  to  the  admission  of  the 
state.  He  liked  Lincoln,  and,  wanting  a  really  honest 
assistant,  recommended  him  to  learn  surveying,  lend 
ing  him  a  book  for  the  purpose.  In  six  weeks  he 
had  qualified  himself,  and  soon  acquired  a  small 
private  business. 

On  the  /th  May,  1833,  Lincoln  was  appointed 
postmaster  at  New  Salem.  As  the  mail  arrived  but 
once  a-week,  neither  the  duties  nor  emoluments  of 
the  office  were  such  as  to  greatly  disturb  or  delight 
him.  He  is  said,  indeed,  to  have  kept  the  letters 
in  his  hat,  being  at  once,  in  his  own  person,  both 
office  and  officer.  The  advantages  which  he  gained 
were  opportunities  to  read  the  newspapers,  which 
he  did  aloud  to  the  assembled  inhabitants,  and  to 
decipher  letters  for  all  who  could  not  read.  All  of 
this  was  conducive,  in  a  creditable  way,  to  notoriety 
and  popularity,  and  he  improved  it  as  such.  In 
the  autumn  of  1834,  a  great  trouble  occurred.  His 
scanty  property,  consisting  of  the  horse,  saddle, 
bridle,  and  surveyor's  instruments  by  which  he  lived, 
were  seized  under  a  judgment  on  one  of  the  notes 
which  he  had  given  for  "  the  store."  But  two  good 


44  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

friends,  named  Short  and  Bowlin  Greene,  bought 
them  in  for  245  dollars,  which  Lincoln  faithfully 
repaid  in  due  time.  It  is  said  that  he  was  an 
accurate  surveyor,  and  remarkable  for  his  truthful 
ness.  He  never  speculated  in  lands,  nor  availed 
himself  of  endless  opportunities  to  profit,  by  aiding 
the  speculations  of  others. 

Miserably  poor  and  badly  clad,  Lincoln,  though 
very  fond  of  the  society  of  women,  was  sensitive  and 
shy  when  they  were  strangers.  Mr.  Ellis,  the  store 
keeper  for  whom  he  often  worked,  states  that,  when 
he  lived  with  him  at  the  tavern,  there  came  a  lady 
from  Virginia  with  three  stylish  daughters,  who 
remained  a  few  weeks.  "During  their  stay,  I  do 
not  remember  Mr.  Lincoln  ever  eating  at  the  same 
table  where  they  did.  I  thought  it  was  on  account 
of  his  awkward  appearance  and  wearing  apparel." 
There  are  many  anecdotes  recorded  of  this  kind, 
showing  at  this  period  his  poverty,  his  popularity, 
and  his  kindness  of  heart.  He  was  referee,  umpire, 
and  unquestioned  judge  in  all  disputes,  horse-races, 
or  wagers.  One  who  knew  him  in  this  capacity  said 
of  him — "  He  is  the  fairest  man  I  ever  had  to  deal 
with." 

In  1834,  Lincoln  again  became  a  successful  can 
didate  for  the  Legislature  of  Illinois,  receiving  a 
larger  majority  than  any  other  candidate  on  the 
ticket.  A  friend,  Colonel  Smoot,  lent  him  200 


Love  and  Politics.  45 

dollars  to  make  a  decent  appearance,  and  he  went 
to  the  seat  of  government  properly  dressed,  for, 
perhaps,  the  first  time  in  his  life.  During  the 
session,  he  said  very  little,  but  worked  hard  and 
learned  much.  He  was  on  the  Committee  for 
Public  Accounts  and  Expenditures,  and  when  the 
session  was  at  an  end,  quietly  walked  back  to  his 
work. 

Lamon  relates,  at  full  length,  that  at  this  time 
Lincoln  was  in  love  with  a  young  lady,  who  died 
of  a  broken  heart  in  1835,  not,  however,  for  Lincoln, 
but  for  another  young  man  who  had  been  engaged 
to,  and  abandoned  her.  At  her  death,  Lincoln 
seemed  for  some  weeks  nearly  insane,  and  was 
never  the  same  man  again.  From  this  time  he  lost 
his  youth,  and  became  subject  to  frequent  attacks 
of  intense  mental  depression,  resulting  in  that  settled 
melancholy  which  never  left  him. 

In  1836,  he  was  again  elected  to  the  Legislature. 
Political  excitement  at  this  time  ran  high.  The 
country  was  being  settled  rapidly,  and  people's  minds 
were  wild  with  speculation  in  lands  and  public  works, 
from  which  every  man  hoped  for  wealth,  and  which 
were  to  be  developed  by  the  legislators.  Lincoln's 
colleagues  were  in  an  unusual  degree  able  men,  and 
the  session  was  a  busy  one.  It  was  during  the 
canvass  of  1836  that  he  made  his  first  really  great 
speech.  He  had  by  this  time  fairly  joined  the  new 


46  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Whig  party,  and  it  was  in  reply  to  a  Democrat,  Dr. 
Early,  that  he  spoke.  From  that  day  he  was  recog 
nised  as  one  of  the  most  powerful  orators  in  the  state. 
The  principal  object  of  this  session,  in  accordance 
\vjth  the  popular  mania,  was  internal  improvements, 
and  to  this  subject  Lincoln  had  been  devoted  for 
years.  The  representatives  from  Sangamon  County 
consisted  of  nine  men  of  great  influence,  every  one 
at  least  six  feet  in  height,  whence  they  were  known 
as  the  Long  Nine.  The  friends  of  the  adoption 
of  a  general  system  of  internal  improvements  wished 
to  secure  the  aid  of  the  Long  Nine,  but  the  latter 
refused  to  aid  them  unless  the  removal  of  the  capital 
of  the  state  from  Vandalia  to  Springfield  should 
be  made  a  part  of  the  measure.  The  result  was 
that  both  the  Bill  for  removal  and  that  for  internal 
improvements,  involving  the  indebtedness  of  the 
state  for  many  millions  of  dollars,  passed  the  same 
day.  Lincoln  was  the  leader  in  these  improvements, 
and  "was  a  most  laborious  member,  instant  in  season 
and  out  of  season  for  the  great  measures  of  the  Whig 
party."1  At  the  present  day,  though  grave  doubts 

1  Holland  passes  over  the  wisdom  or  unwisdom  of  these  measures 
without  comment.  According  to  Ford  ("History  of  Illinois")  and 
Lamon,  the  whole  state  was  by  them  "simply  bought  up  and  bribed 
to  support  the  most  senseless  and  disastrous  policy  which  ever  crippled 
the  energies  of  a  growing  country."  It  is  certain  that,  in  any  country 
where  the  internal  resources  are  enormous  and  the  inhabitants  intelli 
gent,  enterprising,  and  poor,  such  legislation  will  always  find  favour. 


Reckless  Legislation.  47 

may  exist  as  to  the  expediency  of  such  reckless 
and  radical  legislation,  there  can  be  none  as  to  the 
integrity  or  good  faith  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  He 
did  not  enrich  himself  by  it,  though  it  is  not  impos 
sible  that,  in  legislation  as  in  land-surveying,  others  r 
swindled  on  his  honesty. 

It  was  during  this  session  that  Lincoln  first  beheld 
Stephen  Douglas,  who  was  destined  to  become,  for 
twenty  years,  his  most  formidable  opponent.  Douglas, 
from  his  diminutive  stature  and  great  mind,  was 
afterwards  popularly  known  as  the  Little  Giant. 
Lincoln  merely  recorded  his  first  impressions  of 
Douglas  by  saying  he  was  the  least  man  he  ever  saw. 
This  legislation  of  1836-37  was  indeed  of  a  nature 
to  attract  speculators,  whether  in  finance  or  politics. 
Within  a  few  days,  it  passed  two  loans  amounting 
to  12,000,000  dollars,  and  chartered  1,300  miles  of 
railway,  with  canals,  bridges,  and  river  improvements 
in  full  proportion.  The  capital  stock  of  two  banks 
was  increased  by  nearly  5,000,000  dollars,  which  the 
State  took,  leaving  it  to  the  banks  to  manage  the 
railroad  and  canal  funds.  Everything  was  under 
taken  on  a  colossal  and  daring  scale  by  the  legislators, 
who  were  principally  managed  by  the  Long  Nine, 
who  were  in  their  turn  chiefly  directed  by  Lincoln. 
The  previous  session  had  been  to  him  only  as  the 
green-room  in  which  to  prepare  himself  for  the 
stage.  When  he  made  this  his  first  appearance  in 


48  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

the  political  ballet,  it  was  certainly  with  such  a  leap 
as  had  never  before  been  witnessed  in  any  beginner. 
The  internal  improvement  scheme  involved  not  only 
great  boldness  and  promptness  in  its  execution,  but 
also  a  vast  amount  of  that  practical  business  talent  in 
which  most  "Western  men"  and  Yankees  are  instinc 
tively  proficient.  With  all  this,  there  was  incessant 
hard  work  and  great  excitement.  Through  the 
turmoil,  Lincoln  passed  like  one  in  his  true  element. 
He  had  at  last  got  into  the  life  to  which  he  had  aspired 
for  years,  and  was  probably  as  happy  as  his  constitu 
tional  infirmity  of  melancholy  would  permit.  He 
was,  it  is  true,  no  man  of  business  in  the  ordinary 
sense,  but  he  understood  the  general  principles  of 
business,  and  was  skilled  in  availing  himself  in  others 
of  talents  which  he  did  not  possess. 

During  this  session,  he  put  on  record  his  first 
anti-slavery  protest.  It  was,  in  the  words  of  Lamon, 
"a  very  mild  beginning,"  but  it  required  uncommon 
courage,  and  is  interesting  as  indicating  the  principle 
upon  which  his  theory  of  Emancipation  was  after 
wards  carried  out.  At  this  time  the  whole  country, 
North  as  well  as  South,  was  becoming  excited  con 
cerning  the  doctrines  and  practices  of  the  small  but 
very  rapidly-growing  body  of  Abolitionists,  who  were 
attacking  slavery  with  fiery  zeal,  and  provoking  in 
return  the  most  deadly  hatred.  The  Abolitionist, 
carrying  the  Republican  theory  to  its  logical  extreme, 


Abolitionism.  49 


insisted  that  all  men,  white  or  black,  were  entitled 
to  the  same  political  and  social  rights ;  the  slave 
owners  honestly  believed  that  society  should  consist 
of  strata,  the  lowest  of  which  should  be  bondmen. 
The  Abolitionist  did  not  recognise  that  slavery  in 
America,  like  serfdom  in  Russia,  had  developed  into 
culture  a  country  which  would,  without  it,  have 
remained  a  wilderness;  nor  did  the  slave  theorists 
recognise  that  a  time  must  infallibly  come  when  both 
systems  of  enforced  labour  must  yield  to  new  forms 
of  industrial  development.  The  Abolitionists,  taking 
their  impressions  from  the  early  English  and  Quaker 
philanthropists,  thought  principally  of  the  personal 
wrong  inflicted  on  the  negro  ;  while  the  majority  of 
Americans  declared,  with  equal  conviction,  that  the 
black's  sufferings  were  not  of  so  much  account  that 
white  men  should  be  made  to  suffer  much  more  for 
them,  and  the  whole  country  be  possibly  overwhelmed 
in  civil  war.  Even  at  this  early  period  of  the  dispute, 
there  were,  however,  in  the  old  Whig  party,  a  few 
men  who  thought  that  the  growing  strife  was  not 
to  be  stopped  simply  by  crushing  the  Abolitionists. 
But  while  they  would  gladly  have  seen  the  latter 
abate  their  furious  zeal,  they  also  thought  that  slavery 
might,  with  propriety,  be  at  least  checked  in  its 
progress,  since  they  had  observed,  with  grave  mis 
giving,  that  wherever  it  was  planted,  only  an 
aristocracy  flourished,  while  the  poor  white  men 


5o  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

became  utterly  degraded.  Such  were  the  views  of 
Abraham  Lincoln — views  which,  in  after  years,  led, 
during  the  sharp  and  bitter  need  of  the  war,  to 
the  formation  of  the  theory  of  Emancipation  for 
the  sake  of  the  Country,  as  opposed  to  mere  Abolition 
for  the  sake  of  the  Negro,  which  had  had  its  turn 
and  fulfilled  its  mission. 

The  feeling  against  the  Abolitionists  was  very 
bitter  in  Illinois.  Many  other  states  had  passed 
severe  resolutions,  recommending  that  anti-slavery 
agitation  be  made  an  indictable  offence,  or  a  mis 
demeanour;  and  in  May,  1836,  Congress  declared 
that  all  future  "abolition  petitions"  should  be  laid 
on  the  table  without  discussion.  But  when  the 
Legislature  of  Illinois  took  its  turn  in  the  fashion, 
and  passed  resolutions  of  the  same  kind,  Abraham 
Lincoln  presented  to  the  House  a  protest  which  he 
could  get  but  one  man,  Dan  Stone,  to  sign.  Perhaps 
he  did  not  want  any  more  signatures,  for  he  was 
one  of  those  who  foresaw  to  what  this  cloud,  no 
larger  than  a  man's  hand,  would  in  future  years 
extend,  and  was  willing  to  be  alone  as  a  prophet. 
The  protest  was  as  follows : — 

March  3,  1837. 

The  following  protest  was  presented  to  the  House, 
which  was  read  and  ordered  to  be  spread  on  the  journals, 
to  wit: — 

Resolutions  upon  the  subject  of  domestic  slavery  having 


The  Beginning  of  Emancipation.          51 

passed  both  branches  of  the  General  Assembly  at  its 
present  session,  the  undersigned  hereby  protest  against  the 
passage  of  the  same. 

They  believe  that  the  institution  of  slavery  is  founded 
on  both  injustice  and  bad  policy;  but  that  the  promulgation 
of  Abolition  doctrines  tends  rather  to  increase  than  abate 
its  evils. 

They  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
has  no  power  under  the  Constitution  to  interfere  with  the 
institution  of  slavery  in  the  different  states. 

They  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
has  the  power,  under  the  Constitution,  to  abolish  slavery 
in  the  district  of  Columbia ;  but  that  the  power  ought  not 
to  be  exercised,  unless  at  the  request  of  the  people  of  the 
district. 

The  difference  between  these  opinions  and  those  con 
tained  in  the  said  resolutions  is  their  reason  for  entering 

this  protest 

(Signed)  DAN  STONE. 

A.  LINCOLN. 
Representatives  from  the  County  of  Sangamon. 

This  was  indeed  a  very  mild  protest,  but  it  was 
the  beginning  of  that  which,  in  after  years,  grew 
to  be  the  real  Emancipation  of  the  negro.  Never 
in  history  was  so  fine  an  end  of  the  wedge  succeeded 
by  such  a  wide  cleaving  bulk.  Much  as  Lincoln 
afterwards  accomplished  for  the  abolition  of  slavery, 
he  never,  says  Holland,  became  more  extreme  in 
his  views  than  the  words  of  this  protest  intimate. 
It  was  during  this  session  also  that  he  first  put 


52  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

himself  in  direct  opposition  to  Douglas  by  another 
protest.  The  Democrats,  in  order  to  enable  the 
aliens — virtually  the  Irishmen — in  their  state  to 
vote  on  six  months'  residence,  passed  a  Bill  known 
as  the  Douglas  Bill,  remodelling  the  judiciary  in 
such  a  way  as  to  secure  judges  who  would  aid 
them.  Against  this,  Lincoln,  E.  D.  Baker,  and  others 
protested  vigorously,  but  without  avail.  Both  of 
these  protests,  though  failures  at  the  time,  were  in 
reality  the  beginnings  of  the  two  great  principles 
which  led  to  Lincoln's  great  success,  and  the  realisa 
tion  of  his  utmost  ambition.  During  his  life,  defeat 
was  always  a  step  to  victory. 


CHAPTER     III. 

Lincoln  settles  at  Springfield  as  a  Lawyer — Candidate  for  the  Office  of 
Presidential  Elector — A  Love  Affair — Marries  Miss  Todd — Religious 
Views  — Kxerts  himself  for  Henry  Clay — Elected  to  Congress  in  1846 — 
Speeches  in  Congress— Out  of  Political  Employment  until  1854— Anec 
dotes  of  Lincoln  as  a  Lawyer. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  career  was  now  clear. 
r*  He  was  to  follow  the  law  for  a  living,  as  a  step 
to  political  eminence.  And  as  the  seat  of  State 
Government  was  henceforth  to  be  at  Springfield,  he 
determined  to  live  where  both  law  and  politics  might 
be  followed  to  the  greatest  advantage,  since  it  was 
in  Springfield  that,  in  addition  to  the  State  Courts, 
the  Circuit  and  District  Courts  of  the  United  States 
sat.  He  obtained  his  license  as  an  attorney  in  1837, 
and  commenced  his  practice  in  the  March  of  that 
year.  He  entered  into  partnership  with  his  friend, 
J.  T.  Stewart,  and  lived  with  the  Hon.  W.  Butler, 
who  was  of  great  assistance  to  him  in  the  simple 
matter  of  living,  for  he  was  at  this  time  as  poor  as 
ever.  During  1837,  ne  delivered  several  addresses, 
in  which  there  was  a  strong  basis  of  common  sense, 
though  they  were  fervid  and  figurative  to  extra 
vagance,  as  suited  the  tastes  of  his  hearers.  In  these 
speeches  he  predicted  the  great  struggle  on  which 


54  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

the  country  was  about  to  enter,  and  that  it  would 
never  be  settled  by  passion  but  by  reason — "cold, 
calculating,  unimpassioned  reasoning,  which  must 
furnish  all  the  materials  for  our  future  defence  and 
support."  He  also  distinguished  himself  in  debate 
and  retort,  so  that  ere  long  he  became  unrivalled, 
in  his  sphere,  in  ready  eloquence.  From  this  time, 
for  twenty  years,  he  followed  his  great  political 
rival,  Douglas,  seeking  every  opportunity  to  contend 
with  him.  From  1837  he  concerned  himself  little 
with  the  politics  of  his  state,  but  entered  with  zeal 
into  the  higher  interests  of  the  Federal  Union. 

In  1840,  Lincoln  was  a  candidate  for  the  office 
of  Presidential  elector  on  the  Harrison  ticket,  and 
made  speeches  through  a  great  part  of  Illinois. 
Soon  after,  he  again  became  involved  in  a  love 
affair,  which,  through  its  perplexities  and  the  revival 
of  the  memory  of  his  early  disappointment,  had  a 
terrible  effect  upon  his  mind.  He  had  become 
intimate  with  a  Mr.  Speed,  who  remained  through 
life  his  best  friend.  For  a  year  he  was  almost  a 
lunatic,  and  was  taken  to  Kentucky  by  Mr.  Speed, 
and  kept  there  until  he  recovered.  It  was  for  this 
reason  that  he  did  not  attend  the  Legislature  of 
1841-42.  It  is  very  characteristic  of  Lincoln  that, 
from  boyhood,  he  never  wanted  true  friends  to  aid 
him  in  all  his  troubles. 

Soon  after  his  recovery,  Lincoln  became  engaged 


Lincoln  Marries.  55 

tC  Miss  Mary  Todd.  This  lady  was  supposed  to 
be  gifted  as  a  witty  and  satirical  writer,  though  it 
must  be  admitted  that  the  specimens  of  her  literary 
capacity,  exhibited  in  certain  anonymous  contribu 
tions  to  the  newspapers,  show  little  talent  beyond 
the  art  of  irritation.  Several  of  these  were  levelled 
at  a  politician  named  James  Shields,  an  Irishman, 
who,  being  told  that  Lincoln  had  written  them,  sent 
him  a  challenge.  The  challenge  was  accepted,  but 
the  duel  was  prevented  by  mutual  friends.  Lincoln 
married  Miss  Todd  on  the  4th  November,  1842. 
This  marriage,  which  had  not  been  preceded  by  the 
most  favourable  omens,  was  followed  by  a  singular 
misfortune.  In  1843,  Lincoln  was  a  Whig  candidate 
for  Congress,  but  was  defeated.  "  He  had  a  hard 
time  of  it,  and  was  compelled  to  meet  accusations  of 
a  strange  character.  Among  other  things,  he  was 
charged  with  being  an  aristocrat,  and  with  having 
deserted  his  old  friends,  the  people,  by  marrying  a 
proud  woman  on  account  of  her  blood  and  family. 
This  hurt  him  keenly,"  says  Lamon,  "and  he  took 
great  pains  to  disprove  it."  Other  accusations, 
equally  frivolous,  relative  to  his  supposed  religion 
or  irreligion,  also  contributed  to  his  defeat. 

On  this  much-vexed  subject  of  Lincoln's  religious 
faith,  or  his  want  of  it,  something  may  here  be  said. 
In  his  boyhood,  when  religious  associations  are  most 
valuable  in  disciplining  the  mind>  he  had  never  even 


$6  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

seen  a  church,  and,  as  he  grew  older,  his  sense  of 
humour  and  his  rude  companions  prevented  him  from 
being  seriously  impressed  by  the  fervid  but  often 
eccentric  oratory  of  the  few  itinerant  preachers  who 
found  their  way  into  the  backwoods.  At  New  Salem, 
he  had  read  "  Volney's  Ruins "  and  the  works  of 
Thomas  Paine,  and  was  for  some  time  a  would-be 
unbeliever.  It  is  easy  to  trace  in  his  youthful 
irreligion  the  influence  of  irresistible  causes.  As  he 
grew  older,  his  intensely  melancholy  and  emotional 
temperament  inclined  him  towards  reliance  in  an 
unseen  Providence  and  belief  in  a  future  state ;  and 
it  is  certain  that,  after  the  unpopularity  of  free 
thinkers  had  forced  itself  upon  his  mind,  the  most 
fervidly  passionate  expressions  of  piety  began  to 
abound  in  his  speeches.  In  this  he  was  not,  however, 
hypocritical.  From  his  childhood,  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  possessed  even  to  unreason  with  the  idea  that 
whatever  was  absolutely  popular,  was  founded  on 
reason  and  right.  He  was  a  Republican  of  Repub 
licans,  faithfully  believing  that  whatever  average 
common  sense  accepted  must  be  followed.1  His  own 
personal  popularity  was  at  all  times  very  great. 


1  His  biographies  abound  in  proof  of  this.  "He  believed  that  a 
man,  in  order  to  effect  anything,  should  work  through  organisations 
of  men." — Holland,  p.  92.  It  is  very  difficult  for  any  one  not  brought 
up  in  the  United  States  to  realise  the  degree  to  which  this  idea  can 
influence  men,  and  determine  their  whole  moral  nature. 


Henry  Clay.  57 


One  who  knew  him  testifies  that,  when  the  lawyers 
travelling  the  judicial  circuit  of  Illinois  arrived  at 
the  villages  where  trials  were  to  be  held,  crowds  of 
men  and  women  always  assembled  to  welcome 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

Lincoln  himself  had  a  great  admiration  for  Henry 
Clay.  In  1844,  he  went  through  Illinois  delivering 
speeches  and  debating  and  speaking,  or,  as  it  is  called 
in  America,  "stumping"  for  him,  and  he  even  extended 
his  labours  into  Indiana.  It  was  all  in  vain,  and  Clay's 
defeat  was  a  great  blow  to  Lincoln.1  At  this  time, 
though  he  withdrew  from  politics  in  favour  of  law, 
he  began  to  think  seriously  of  getting  a  seat  in 
Congress.  His  management  of  this  affair  indicates 
forcibly  his  entire  faith  in  party-right,  and  his  prin 
ciple  of  never  advancing  beyond  his  party.  Of  all 
the  men  of  action  known  to  history  as  illustrating 
great  epochs,  there  never  was  a  more  thorough  man 
of  action  than  Lincoln,  but  the  brain  which  inspired 
his  action  was  always  that  of  the  people. 

Through  all  his  poverty,  Lincoln  was  always  just 
and  generous.  In  1843,  while  living  with  his  wife 
for  four  dollars  a-week,  at  a  country  tavern,  he  gave 
up  a  promissory-note  for  a  large  fee  to  an  im 
poverished  client  who,  after  the  trial,  had  lost  a  hand. 

1  It  is  a  matter  of  regret  that,  when  Lincoln,  long  after,  went  to 
see  his  idol  and  ideal,  he  was  greatly  disappointed  in  him. — Holland, 
p.  95.  Lamon  denies  this  visit,  but  does  not  disprove  it. 


58  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

He  paid  all  his  own  debts,  and  generously  aided  his 
stepmother  and  other  friends. 

In  1846,  Lincoln  accepted  the  nomination  for 
Congress.  His  Democratic  opponent  was  Peter 
Cartwright,  a  celebrated  pioneer  Methodist  preacher. 
It  is  a  great  proof  of  Lincoln's  popularity  that  he 
was  elected  by  an  unprecedented  majority,  though 
he  was  the  only  Whig  Congressman  from  Illinois. 
At  this  session,  his  almost  life-long  adversary,  Douglas, 
took  a  place  in  the  Senate.  Both  houses  shone  with 
an  array  of  great  and  brilliant  names,  and  Lincoln, 
as  the  only  representative  of  his  party  from  his  state, 
was  in  a  critical  and  responsible  situation.  But  he 
was  no  novice  in  legislation,  and  he  acquitted  himself 
bravely.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Committee 
on  Post  Offices  and  Post  Roads,  and  in  that  capacity 
made  his  first  speech.  He  found  it  as  easy  a  matter 
to  address  his  new  colleagues  as  his  old  clients. 
"  I  was  about  as  badly  scared,"  he  wrote  to  W.  J. 
Herndon,  "  and  no  worse,  as  when  I  speak  in  court." 
During  this  session,  the  United  States  were  at  war 
with  Mexico,  and  Lincoln  was,  with  his  party,  in  a 
painful  dilemma.  They  were  opposed  to  the  principle 
of  the  war,  since  they  detested  forcible  acquisition 
of  territory,  and  it  was  evident  that  Mexico  was 
wanted  by  the  South  to  extend  the  area  of  slavery. 
Yet  they  could  not,  in  humanity,  withhold  supplies 
from  the  army  in  Mexico  while  fighting  bravely. 


The  Mexican    War.  59 

So  Lincoln  denounced  the  war,  and  yet  voted  the 
supplies — an  inconsistency  creditable  to  his  heart, 
but  which  involved  him  in  trouble  with  his  consti 
tuents.  But  he  struck  the  Administration  a  severe 
blow  in  what  was  really  his  first  speech  before  the 
whole  House.  President  Polk  having  declared,  in 
a  Message,  that  "the  Mexicans  had  invaded  our 
territory,  and  shed  the  blood  of  our  citizens  on  our 
own  soil,"  Lincoln  introduced  what  were  called  the 
famous  "spot  resolutions,"  in  which  the  President 
was  invited  in  a  series  of  satirical  yet  serious 
questions  to  indicate  the  spot  where  this  outrage  had 
been  committed. 

Lincoln  was  very  busy  this  year.  The  Whig 
National  Convention  was  to  nominate  a  candidate 
for  President  on  the  1st  June,  and  he  was  to  be  one 
of  its  members.  On  July  2/th,  he  delivered,  in 
Congress,  a  speech  as  remarkable  in  some  respects 
for  solid  sense  and  shrewdness  as  it  was  in  others 
for  eccentric  drollery  and  scathing  Western  retorts. 
The  second  session,  1848-49,  was  quieter.  At  one 
time  he  proposed,  as  a  substitute  for  a  resolution 
that  slavery  be  at  once  abolished  by  law  in  the 
district  of  Columbia,  another,  providing  that  the 
owners  be  paid  for  their  slaves.  If  he  did  little  in 
this  session  to  attract  attention,  he  made  for  himself 
a  name,  and  was  known  as  a  powerful  speaker  and  a 
rising  man  ;  but,  after  returning  to  Springfield, 


60  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

though  a  Whig  President  had  been  elected,  and  his 
own  reputation  greatly  increased,  he  was  thrown  out 
of  political  employment  until  the  year  1854.  He 
made  great  efforts  to  secure  the  office  of  Com 
missioner  of  the  General  Land  Office,  but  failed. 
President  Fillmore,  it  is  true,  offered  him  the  Governor 
ship  of  Oregon,  but  Mrs.  Lincoln  induced  him  to 
decline  it. 

In  1850,  his  friends  wished  to  nominate  him  for 
Congress,  but  he  positively  refused  the  honour.  It 
is  thought  that  he  wished  to  establish  himself  in  his 
profession  for  the  sake  of  a  support  for  his  family, 
or  that  he  had  entered  into  a  secret  understanding 
with  other  candidates  for  Congress,  who  were  to 
nominally  oppose  each  other,  but  in  reality  secure 
election  in  turn  by  excluding  rivals.1  But  it  is  most 
probable  that  he  clearly  foresaw  at  this  time  the 
tremendous  struggle  which  was  approaching  between 
North  and  South,  and  wished  to  prepare  himself  for 
some  great  part  in  it.  To  engage  in  minor  political 
battles  and  be  defeated,  as  would  probably  be  the 
case  in  his  district,  where  his  war-vote  in  Congress 
was  still  remembered  to  his  disadvantage,  would  have 


1  Lamon,  p.  275,  says  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
would  have  cheerfully  made  such  a  dishonourable  and  tricky  agree 
ment,  but  inclines  to  think  he  did  not.  It  is  very  doubtful  whether 
the  compact,  if  it  existed  at  all,  was  not  made  simply  for  the  purpose 
of  excluding  the  Democrats. 


Legal  Experiences.  61 

seriously  injured  his  future  prospects  of  every  kind. 
He  said,  in  1850,  to  his  friend  Stuart — "The  time 
will  come  when  we  must  all  be  Democrats  or 
Abolitionists.  When  that  time  comes,  my  mind  is 
made  up.  The  slavery  question  can't  be  compro 
mised." 

Many  interesting  anecdotes  of  Lincoln's  legal 
experiences  at  this  time  have  been  preserved.  In 
his  first  case,  at  Springfield,  he  simply  admitted  that 
all  laws  and  precedents  were  in  favour  of  his 
opponent,  and,  having  stated  them  in  detail,  left  the 
decision  to  the  Court.  He  would  never  take  an 
unjust,  or  mean,  or  a  purely  litigious  case.  •  When 
retained  with  a  colleague,  named  Swett,  to  defend 
a  man  accused  of  murder,  Lincoln  became  convinced 
of  his  client's  guilt,  and  said  to  his  associate — "  You 
must  defend  him — I  cannot."  Mr.  Swett  obtained 
an  acquittal,  but  Lincoln  would  take  no  part  of  the 
large  fee  which  was  paid.  On  one  occasion,  however, 
when  one  of  his  own  friends  of  boyhood,  John  Arm 
strong,  was  indicted  for  a  very  atrocious  murder, 
Lincoln,  moved  by  the  tears  and  entreaties  of  the 
aged  mother  of  the  prisoner,  consented  to  plead  his 
cause.  It  having  been  testified  that,  when  the  man 
was  murdered,  the  full  moon  was  shining  high  in  the 
heavens,  Lincoln,  producing  an  almanac,  proved  that, 
on  the  night  in  question,  there  was  in  fact  no  moon 
at  all.  Those  who  were  associated  with  him  for 


62  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

years  declare  that  they  never  knew  a  lawyer  who 
was  so  moderate  in  his  charges.  Though  he  attained 
great  reputation  in  his  profession,  the  highest  fee 
he  ever  received  was  5,000  dollars.  His  strength 
lay  entirely  in  shrewd  common  sense,  in  quickly 
mastering  all  the  details  of  a  case,  and  in  ready 
eloquence  or  debate,  for  he  had  very  little  law- 
learning,  and  was  averse  to  making  researches.  But 
his  rare  genius  for  promptly  penetrating  all  the 
difficulties  of  a  legal  or  political  problem,  which 
aided  him  so  much  as  President,  enabled  him  to  deal 
with  juries  in  a  masterly  manner.  On  one  occasion, 
when  thirty-four  witnesses  swore  to  a  fact  on  one 
side,  and  exactly  as  many  on  the  other,  Mr.  Lincoln 
proposed  a  very  practical  test  to  the  jury — "  If  you 
were  going  to  bet  on  this  case,"  he  said,  "  on  which 
side  would  you  lay  a  picayune?"1 

Any  poor  person  in  distress  for  want  of  legal  aid 
could  always  find  a  zealous  friend  in  Lincoln.  On 
one  occasion,  a  poor  old  negro  woman  came  to  him 
and  Mr.  Herndon,  complaining  that  her  son  had  been 
imprisoned  at  New  Orleans  for  simply  going,  in  his 
ignorance,  ashore,  thereby  breaking  a  disgraceful 
law  which  then  existed,  forbidding  free  men  of 
colour  from  other  states  to  enter  Louisiana.  Having 
been  condemned  to  pay  a  fine,  and  being  without 

1  Holland,  p.  82.     A  picayune  is  six  cents,  or  3d. 


The  Poor  Slave.  63 

money,  the  poor  man  was  about  to  be  sold  for 
a  slave.  Messrs.  Lincoln  and  Herndon,  finding  law 
of  no  avail,  ransomed  the  prisoner  out  of  their  own 
pockets.  In  those  days,  a  free-born  native  of  a 
Northern  state  could,  if  of  African  descent,  be  seized 
and  sold  simply  for  setting  foot  on  Southern 
soil. 


CHAPTER     IV. 

Rise  of  the  Southern  Party — Formation  of  the  Abolition  and  the  Free 
Soil  Parties — Judge  Douglas  and  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill — Douglas 
defeated  by  Lincoln — Lincoln  resigns  as  Candidate  for  Congress — 
Lincoln's  Letter  on  Slavery — The  Bloomington  Speech — The  Fremont 
Campaign — Election  of  Buchanan — The  Dred-Scott  Decision. 

THE  great  storm  of  civil  war  which  now  threatened 
the  American  Ship  of  State  had  been  long 
brewing.  Year  by  year  the  party  of  slave-owners — 
small  in  number  but  strong  in  union,  and  unani 
mously  devoted  to  the  acquisition  of  political  power 
——had  progressed,  until  they  saw  before  them  the 
possibility  of  ruling  the  entire  continent.  To  please 
them,  the  nation,  after  purchasing,  had  admitted  as 
slave  territory  the  immense  regions  of  Louisiana 
and  Florida,  and  in  their  interests  a  war  had  been 
waged  with  Mexico.  But,  so  early  as  1820,  the 
North,  alarmed  at  the  incredible  progress  of  slave- 
power,  and  observing  that  wherever  it  was  established 
white  labour  was  paralysed,  and  that  society  resolved 
itself  at  once  into  a  small  aristocracy,  with  a  large 
number  of  blacks  and  poor  whites  who  were  systema 
tically  degraded,1  attempted  to  check  its  territorial 

1  There  were  no  free  schools  in   South   Carolina  until  1852,   and 
it  was  a  serious  crime  to  teach  a  negro  to  read. 


Growth  of  the  Slave  Power.  65 

extension.  There  was  a  contest,  which  was  finally 
settled  by  what  was  known  as  the  Missouri  Com 
promise,  by  which  it  was  agreed  that  Missouri  should 
be  admitted  as  a  slave  state,  but  that  in  future  all 
territory  North  and  West  of  Missouri,  above  latitude 
36°  30',  should  be  for  ever  free.1 

While  the  inhabitants  of  the  Eastern  and  Western 
States  applied  themselves  to  every  development  of 
industrial  pursuits,  art,  and  letters,  the  Southerners 
lived  by  agricultural  slave-labour,  and  were  entirely 
devoted  to  acquiring  political  power.  The  contest 
was  unequal,  and  the  result  was  that,  before  the  Rebel 
lion,  the  slave-holders — who,  with  their  slaves,  only 
constituted  one-third  of  the  population  of  the  United 
States — had  secured  ftw-thirds  of  all  the  offices — 
civil,  military,  or  naval — and  had  elected  two-thirds  of 
the  Presidents.  Law  after  law  was  passed,  giving  the 
slave-holders  every  advantage,  until  Governor  Henry 
A.  Wise,  of  Virginia,  declared  in  Congress  that  slavery 
should  pour  itself  abroad,  and  have  no  limit  but  the 
Southern  Ocean.  He  also  asserted  that  the  best  way 
to  meet  or  answer  Abolition  arguments  was  with 
death.  His  house  was  afterwards,  during  the  war, 
used  for  a  negro  school,  under  care  of  a  New  England 
Abolitionist.  Large  pecuniary  rewards  were  offered 
by  Governors  of  slave  states  for  the  persons — i.e.,  the 
lives — of  eminent  Northern  anti-slavery  men.  Direct 

1  Arnold,  "  History  of  Lincoln,"  p.  33. 


66  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

efforts    were    made   to   re-establish    the   slave-trade 
between  Africa  and  the  Southern  States. 

In  1839  the  Abolition  party  was  formed,  which 
advocated  the  total  abolition  of  slavery.  This  was 
going  too  far  for  the  mass  of  the  North,  who  hoped 
to  live  at  peace  with  the  South.  But  still  there  were 
many  in  both  the  Whig  and  Democratic  parties 
who  wished  to  see  the  advance  of  the  slave  power 
checked  ;  and  their  delegates,  meeting  at  Buffalo  in 
June,  1848,  formed  the  Free  Soil  party,  opposed  to 
the  further  extension  of  slavery,  which  rapidly  grew 
in  power.  The  struggle  became  violent.  When  the 
territory  acquired  by  war  from  Mexico  was  to  be 
admitted  to  the  Union  in  1846,  David  Wilmot,  of 
Pennsylvania,  offered  a  proviso  to  the  Bill  accepting 
the  territory,  to  the  effect  that  slavery  should  be 
unknown  in  it.  There  was  a  fierce  debate  for  two 
years  over  this  proviso,  which  was  finally  rejected. 
The  most  desperate  legislation  was  adopted  to  make 
California  a  slave  state,  and  when  she  decided  by 
her  own  will  to  be  free,  the  slave-holders  opposed 
her  admission  to  the  Union.  Finally,  in  1850,  the 
celebrated  Compromise  Measures  were  adopted. 
These  were  to  the  effect  that  California  should  be 
admitted  free — that  in  New  Mexico  and  Utah  the 
people  should  decide  for  themselves  as  to  slavery — 
and  that  such  of  Texas  as  was  above  latitude  36°  30' 
should  be  free.  To  this,  however,  was  tacked  a  new 


The  Kansas- Nebraska  Bill.  67 

and  more  cruel  fugitive  slave  law,1  apparently  to 
humiliate  and  annoy  the  free  states,  and  to  keep 
irritation  alive. 

But,  on  the  4th  January,  1854,  Judge  Douglas 
introduced  into  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  a 
Bill  known  as  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  proposing 
to  set  aside  the  Missouri  Compromise.  This  was 
passed,  after  a  tremendous  struggle,  on  May  22nd; 
and  the  slave-party  triumphed.  Yet  it  proved  their 
ruin,  for  it  was  the  first  decisive  step  to  the  strife 
which  ended  in  civil  war.  It  eventually  destroyed 
Mr.  Douglas,  its  originator.  He  is  said  to  have 
repented  the  deed  ;  and  when  it  became  evident  that 
the  Union  was  aroused,  and  that  the  Republican 


1  A  law  by  which  slaves  who  had  escaped  to  free  states  were  returned 
to  their  owners.  The  writer,  as  a  boy,  has  seen  many  cruel  instances 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  old  slave  law  was  carried  out.  But  while 
great  pains  were  taken  to  hunt  down  and  return  slaves  who  had 
escaped  to  free  states,  there  was  literally  nothing  done  to  return  free 
coloured  people  who  had  been  inveigled  or  carried  by  force  to  the 
South,  and  there  sold  as  slaves.  It  was  believed  that,  at  one  time, 
hardly  a  day  passed  during  which  a  free  black  was  not  thus  entrapped 
from  Pennsylvania.  The  writer  once  knew,  in  Philadelphia,  a  boy 
of  purely  white  blood,  but  of  dark  complexion,  who  narrowly  escaped 
being  kidnapped  by  downright  violence,  that  he  might  be  "  sent 
South."  White  children  were  commonly  terrified  by  parents  or 
nurses  with  "  the  kidnappers,"  who  would  black  their  faces,  and  sell 
them.  Even  in  the  Northern  cities,  there  were  few  grown-up  negro 
men  who  had  not,  at  one  time  or  another,  been  hunted  by  the  lower 
classes  of  whites  through  the  streets  in  the  most  incredibly  barbarous 


68  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

would  be  the  winning  party,  Douglas  went  over  to 
it.  "  He  had  long  before  invoked  destruction  on  the 
ruthless  hand  which  should  disturb  the  compromise, 
and  now  he  put  forth  his  own  ingenious  hand  to  do 
the  deed  and  to  take  the  curse,  in  both  of  which 
he  was  eminently  successful."  He  was  defeated  by 
the  honester  and  wiser  Lincoln,  and  died  a  dis 
appointed  man. 

To  suit  the  slave-party,  it  was  originally  agreed, 
in  1820,  that  in  future  they,  though  so  greatly  inferior 
in  number,  should  have  half  the  territory  of  the 
Union.  But  as  they  found  in  time  that  population 
increased  most  rapidly  in  the  free  territories,  the 
compromise  of  1850  was  arranged,  by  which  the 
inhabitants  of  the  new  states  were  to  decide  for 
themselves  in  the  matter.  The  result  was  an  imme 
diate  and  terrible  turmoil.  The  legitimate  dwellers 
in  Kansas  were  almost  all  steady,  law-abiding  farmers 
who  hated  slavery.  But,  from  Missouri  and  the 
neighbouring  slave  states,  there  was  poured  in,  by 
means  of  committees  and  funds  raised  in  the  South, 
a  vast  number  of  "  Border  ruffians,"  or  desperadoes, 
who  would  remain  in  Kansas  only  long  enough  to 
vote  illegally,  or  to  rob  and  ravage,  and  then  retire. 
The  North,  on  the  other  hand,  exasperated  by  these 
outrages,  sent  numbers  of  emigrants  to  Kansas  to 
support  the  legitimate  settlers,  and  the  result  was  a 
virtual  civil  war,  which  was  the  more  irritating  because 


Defeat  of  Douglas.  69 

President  Buchanan  did  all  in  his  power  to  aid  the 
Border  ruffians,  and  crush  the  legitimate  settlers. 
Day  by  day  it  became  evident  that  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill  had  been  passed  for  the  purpose  of 
enabling  the  South  to  quit  the  Union,  and  ere  long 
this  was  openly  avowed  by  the  slave-holding  press 
and  politicians.  The  entire  North  was  now  fiercely 
irritated.  Judge  Douglas,  returning  westwards,  tried 
to  speak  at  Chicago,  but  was  hissed  down.  At  the 
state  fair  in  Springfield,  Illinois,  Oct.  4th,  1854,  he 
spoke  in  defence  of  the  Nebraska  Bill,  but  was 
replied  to  by  Lincoln  "with  such  power  as  he  had 
never  exhibited  before."  He  was  no  longer  the  orator 
he  had  been,  "  but  a  newer  and  greater  Lincoln,  the 
like  of  whom  no  one  in  that  vast  multitude  had  ever 
heard."  "The  Nebraska  Bill,"  says  W.  H.  Hern- 
don,  "was  shivered,  and,  like  a  tree  of  the  forest, 
was  torn  and  rent  asunder  by  hot  bolts  of  truth." 
Douglas  was  crushed,  and  his  brief  reply  was 
a  spiritless  failure.  From  this  time  forth,  Lincoln's 
speeches  were  as  unexceptional  in  form  as  they 
were  vigorous  and  logical.  Never  was  there  a 
man  of  whom  it  could  be  said  with  so  much  truth 
that  he  always  rose  to  the  occasion,  however  great, 
however  unprecedented  its  demands  on  his  power 
might  be. 

From    Springfield    Lincoln    followed    Douglas   to 
Peoria,  where  he  delivered,  in  debate,  another  great 


70  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

speech.  Not  liking  slavery  in  itself,  Lincoln  was 
willing  to  let  it  alone  under  the  old  compromise, 
but  he  would  never  suffer  its  introduction  to  new 
territories,  and  he  made  it  clear  as  day  that  Douglas, 
by  opening  the  flood-gate  of  slavery  on  free  soil, 
had  let  loose  a  torrent  which,  if  unchecked,  would 
sweep  everything  to  destruction.  He  had  previously, 
at  Springfield,  disclosed  the  fallacy  of  Douglas's 
"great  principle"  by  a  single  sentence.  "I  admit 
that  the  emigrant  to  Kansas  is  competent  to  govern 
himself,  but  I  deny  his  right  to  govern  any  other 
person  without  that  person's  consent."  Such  argu 
ments  were  overwhelming,  and  Douglas,  the  Giant 
of  the  West  and  the  foremost  politician  in  America, 
felt  that  he  had  met  his  master  at  his  own  peculiar 
weapons — oratory  and  debate.  He  sent  for  Lincoln, 
and  proposed  that  both  should  refrain  from  speaking 
during  the  campaign,  and  Lincoln,  conscious  of 
superior  strength,  agreed.  Douglas  did  speak  once 
more,  however,  but  Lincoln  remained  silent. 

At  the  end  of  this  campaign,  Lincoln  was  elected 
to  the  Legislature  of  Illinois.  As  the  Legislature 
was  about  to  elect  a  United  States  Senator,  Lincoln 
resigned  to  become  a  candidate.  But  at  the  election 
— there  being  three  candidates — Lincoln,  finding  that 
by  resigning  he  could  make  it  sure  that  an  anli- 
Nebraska  man  (Judge  Trumbull)  could  be  elected, 
and  that  there  was  some  uncertainty  as  to  his  own 


The  Kansas  Struggle.  71 

success,  resigned,  in  the  noblest  manner,  in  favour 
of  his  principles  and  party.  It  had  been  the 
ambition  of  his  life  to  become  a  United  States 
Senator.  The  result  of  this  sacrifice,  says  Holland, 
was  that,  when  the  Republican  party  was  soon 
after  regularly  organised,  Lincoln  became  their 
foremost  man. 

Meanwhile,  the  strife  in  Kansas  grew  more  des 
perate.  One  Governor  after  another  was  appointed 
to  the  state,  for  the  express  purpose  of  turning  it 
over  to  slavery;  but  the  outrageous  frauds  practised 
at  the  election  were  too  much  for  Mr.  Reeder  and 
his  successor,  Shannon,  and  even  for  his  follower, 
Robert  J.  Walker,  a  man  not  over-scrupulous. 
Walker,  like  many  other  Democrats,  adroitly  turned 
with  the  tide,  but  too  late. 

During  1855,  the  old  parties  were  breaking  up, 
and  the  new  Republican  one  was  gathering  with  great 
rapidity.  Two  separate  governments  or  legislatures 
had  formed  in  Kansas,  one  manifestly  and  boldly 
fraudulent  in  favour  of  slavery,  and  the  other  settled 
at  Topeka,  headed  by  Governor  Reeder,  consisting 
of  legitimate  settlers.  At  this  time,  Aug.  24th,  1855, 
Lincoln  wrote  to  his  friend  Speed  a  letter,  in  which 
he  discussed  slavery  with  great  shrewdness.  In 
answer  to  the  standing  Southern  argument,  that 
slavery  did  not  concern  Northern  people,  and  that 
it  was  none  of  their  business,  he  replied — 


72  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

"In  1841,  you  and  I  had  together  a  tedious  low- 
water  trip  on  a  steamboat,  from  Louisville  to  St. 
Louis.  You  may  remember  as  well  as  I  do  that, 
from  Louisville  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  there 
were  on  board  ten  or  a  dozen  slaves  shackled  with 
irons.  That  sight  was  a  continual  torment  to  me, 
and  I  see  something  like  it  every  time  I  touch  the 
Ohio,  or  any  other  slave-border.  It  is  not  fair  for 
you  to  assume  that  I  have  no  interest  in  a  thing 
which  has,  and  continually  exercises,  the  power  of 
making  me  miserable.  You  ought  rather  to  appre 
ciate  how  much  the  great  body  of  the  Northern 
people  do  crucify  their  feelings,  in  order  to  maintain 
their  loyalty  to  the  Constitution  and  the  Union.  I 
do  oppose  the  extension  of  slavery,  because  my 
judgment  and  feelings  so  prompt  me ;  and  I  am 
under  no  obligations  to  the  contrary.  If  for  this 
you  and  I  must  differ,  differ  we  must." 

On  May  29th,  1856,  Lincoln  attended  a  meeting 
at  Bloomington,  Illinois,  where,  with  his  powerful 
assistance,  the  Republican  party  of  the  state  was 
organised,  and  delegates  were  appointed  to  the 
National  Republican  Convention  which  was  to  be 
held  on  the  i/th  of  the  following  month  at  Phila 
delphia.  The  speech  which  he  made  on  this  occasion 
was  of  extraordinary  power.  From  this  day  he  was 
regarded  by  the  Republicans  of  the  West  as  their 
leader.  Therefore,  in  the  Republican  National  Con- 


Fremont's  Nomination.  73 

vention  of  1856,  at  Philadelphia,  the  Illinois  delega 
tion  presented  his  name  for  the  Vice-Presidency. 
He  received  a  complimentary  vote  of  no  votes,  the 
successful  candidate,  Dayton,  having  259.  This, 
however,  was  his  formal  introduction  to  the  nation. 
At  this  convention,  John  C.  Fremont,  a  plausible 
political  pretender,  was  nominated  for  the  Presidency. 
As  a  candidate  for  Presidential  elector,  Lincoln  again 
took  the  field.  He  made  a  thorough  and  energetic 
canvass,  and  his  greatly  improved  powers  of  oratory 
now  manifested  themselves.  Probably  no  man  in  the 
country,  says  Lamon,  discussed  the  main  questions  at 
issue  in  a  manner  more  original  and  persuasive. 
Buchanan,  the  Democratic  candidate,  was  elected  by 
a  small  majority.  The  Republican  vote  was  largely 
increased  by  many  offensive  and  inhuman  enforce 
ments  of  the  fugitive  slave  law,1  for  it  seemed  at 
this  time  as  if  the  South  had  gone  mad,  and  was 
resolved  to  do  all  in  its  power  to  irritate  the  North 
into  war. 

On  March  4th,  1857,  Buchanan,  the  last  Slave- 
President,  was  inaugurated,  and,  a  few  days  after, 
Judge  Taney,  of  the  Supreme  Court,  rendered  the 
famous  "  Dred  Scott"  decision  relative  to  a  fugitive 
negro  slave  of  that  name,  to  the  effect  that  a  man 
of  African  slave  descent  could  not  be  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States — that  the  prohibition  of  slavery  was 

1  Arnold,  p.  95. 


74  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

unconstitutional,  and  that  it  existed  by  the  Constitu 
tion  in  all  the  territories.  Judge  Taney,  in  fact, 
declared  that  the  negro  had  no  rights  which  the 
white  man  was  bound  to  respect.  "  Against  the 
Constitution — against  the  memory  of  the  nation — 
against  a  previous  decision — against  a  series  of 
enactments — he  decided  that  the  slave  is  property, 
and  that  the  Constitution  upholds  it  against  every 
other  property."1  This  decision  was  regarded  as  an 
outrage  even  by  many  old  Democrats.  In  the  same 
year  the  slavery-party  in  Kansas  passed,  by  fraud 
and  violence,  the  celebrated  Lecompton  Constitution, 
upholding  slavery.  By  this  time,  Judge  Douglas, 
the  author  of  all  this  mischief,  wishing  to  be  re-elected 
to  the  Senate,  and  finding  that  there  was  no  chance 
for  him  as  a  pro-slavery  candidate,  was  suddenly 
seized  with  indignation  at  the  Lecompton  affair, 
which  he  pronounced  an  outrage.  The  result  was 
the  division  of  the  Democratic  party.  He  then  made 
a  powerful  speech  at  Springfield,  defending  his  course 
with  great  shrewdness,  but  it  was,  as  usual,  blown 
to  the  winds  by  a  reply  from  Lincoln.  Douglas 
suddenly  became  a  zealous  "Free  Soiler,"  after 
the  manner  admirably  burlesqued  by  "  Petroleum 
Nasby,"2  when  that  worthy  found  it  was  necessary 

1  George  Bancroft,  "Oration  on  Lincoln,"  pp.  13,  14. 

2  David  R.  Locke,  who,  under  the  name  of  Petroleum  V.  Nasby, 
wrote  political  satires  much  admired  by  Mr.  Lincoln. 


The  "House-divided"  Speech.  75 

to  become  an  anti-slavery  man  to  keep  his  post- 
office.  At  this  time  Douglas  made  his  famous 
assertion  that  he  did  not  care  whether  slavery  was 
voted  up  or  down  ;  and  in  the  following  year,  April 
30th,  1858,  Congress  passed  the  English  Bill,  by 
which  the  people  of  Kansas  were  offered  heavy 
bribes  in  land  if  they  would  accept  the  Lecompton 
Constitution,  but  which  the  people  rejected  by  an 
immense  majority. 

On  the  i6th  June,  1858,  a  Republican  State  Con 
vention  at  Springfield  nominated  Lincoln  for  the 
Senate,  and  on  the  i/th  he  delivered  a  bold  speech, 
soon  to  be  known  far  and  wide  as  the  celebrated 
"  House  divided  against  itself"  speech.  It  began 
with  these  words — 

"  If  we  could  first  know  where  we  are,  and  whither 
we  are  tending,  we  could  then  better  judge  what  to 
do,  and  how  to  do  it.  We  are  now  far  on  into  the 
fifth  year  since  a  policy  was  initiated  with  the  avowed 
object  and  confident  promise  of  putting  an  end  to 
slavery  agitation.  Under  the  operation  of  that 
policy,  that  agitation  had  not  only  not  ceased,  but 
has  constantly  augmented.  In  my  opinion,  it  will 
not  cease  until  a  crisis  shall  have  been  reached  and 
passed.  'A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot 
stand.'  I  believe  this  Government  cannot  endure 
permanently,  half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not 
expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved — I  do  not  expect 


76  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

the  house  to  fall — but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to 
be  divided.  It  will  become  all  one  thing  or  all 
the  other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery  will 
arrest  the  further  spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where 
the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is 
in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction,  or  its  advocates 
will  push  it  forward  till  it  shall  become  alike  lawful 
in  all  the  States — old  as  well  as  new,  North  as  well 
as  South. 

"  Have  we  no  tendency  to  the  latter  condition  ? 
Let  any  one  who  doubts  carefully  contemplate  that 
now  almost  complete  legal  combination — piece  of 
machinery,  so  to  speak — compounded  of  the  Nebraska 
doctrine  and  the  Dred  Scott  decision.  Let  him 
consider  not  only  what  work  the  machinery  is  adapted 
to  do,  and  how  well  adapted,  but  also  let  him  study 
the  history  of  its  construction,  and  trace,  if  he  can, 
or  rather  fail,  if  he  can,  to  trace  the  evidences  of 
design  and  concert  of  action  among  its  chief  master- 
workers  from  the  beginning." 

These  were  awful  words  to  the  world,  and  with 
awe  were  they  received.  Lincoln  was  the  first  man 
among  the  "moderates"  who  had  dared  to  speak 
so  plainly.  His  friends  were  angry,  but  in  due  time 
this  tremendous  speech  had  the  right  effect,  for 
it  announced  the  truth.  Meanwhile,  Lincoln  and 
Douglas  were  again  paired  together  as  rivals,  and 
at  one  place  the  latter  put  to  his  adversary  a  series 


The  Douglas  Questions.  77 

of  questions,  which  were  promptly  answered.  In 
return,  Lincoln  gave  Douglas  four  others,  by  one  of 
which  he  was  asked  if  the  people  of  a  United  States 
territory  could  in  any  lawful  way,  against  the  wish  of 
any  citizen  of  the  United  States,  exclude  slavery 
from  its  limits  ?  To  which  Douglas  replied  that  the 
people  of  a  territory  had  the  lawful  means  to  exclude 
slavery  by  legislative  action.  This  reply  brought 
Douglas  into  direct  antagonism  with  the  pro-slavery 
men.  He  hoped,  by  establishing  a  "platform"  of 
his  own,  to  head  so  many  Democrats  that  the  Repub 
licans  would  welcome  his  accession,  and  make  him 
President.  But  Lincoln,  by  these  questions,  and  by 
his  unyielding  attacks,  weakened  him  to  his  ruin. 
It  is  true  that  Judge  Douglas  gained  his  seat  in  the 
Senate,  but  it  was  by  an  old  and  unjust  law  in  the 
Legislature,  as  Lincoln  really  had  four  thousand 
majority. 

The  speeches  which  Lincoln  delivered  during  this 
campaign,  and  which  were  afterwards  published  with 
those  of  Douglas,  were  so  refined  and  masterly  that 
many  believed  they  had  been  revised  for  him  by  able 
friends.  But  from  this  time  all  his  oratory  indicated 
an  advance  in  all  respects.  He  was  now  bent  on 
great  things. 


CHAPTER    V. 

Causes  of  Lincoln's  Nomination  to  the  Presidency — His  Lectures  in  New 
York,  &c. — The  first  Nomination  and  the  Fence  Rails — The  Nomination 
at  Chicago  —  Elected  President  —  Office-seekers  and  Appointments — 
Lincoln's  Impartiality — The  South  determined  to  Secede — Fears  for 
Lincoln's  Life. 

IT  is  an  almost  invariable  law  of  stern  equity  in  the 
United  States,  as  it  must  be  in  all  true  republics, 
that  the  citizen  who  has  distinguished  himself  by 
great  services  must  not  expect  really  great  rewards. 
The  celebrity  which  he  has  gained  seems,  in  a 
commonwealth,  where  all  are  ambitious  of  distinction, 
to  be  sufficient  recompense.  It  is  true  that  at  times 
some  overwhelming  favourite,  generally  a  military 
hero,  is  made  an  exception  ;  but  there  are  few  very 
ambitious  civilians  who  do  not  realise  that  a  prophet 
is  without  great  honour  in  his  own  country.  Other 
instances  may  occur  where  aspiring  men  have  care 
fully  concealed  their  hopes,  and  of  such  was  Abraham 
Lincoln.  Perhaps  his  case  is  best  stated  by  Lamon, 
who  declares  that  he  had  all  the  requisites  of  an 
available  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  chiefly  because 
he  had  not  been  sufficiently  prominent  in  national 
politics  to  excite  the  jealousies  of  powerful  rivals. 
In  order  to  defeat  one  another,  these  rivals  will  put 


Visit  to  New   York.  79 

forward  some  comparatively  unknown  man,  and  thus 
Lincoln  was  greatly  indebted  to  the  jealousy  with 
which  Horace  Greeley,  a  New  York  politician,  regard 
ed  his  rival,  W.  H.  Seward.  Lincoln's  abilities  were 
very  great,  "  but  he  knew  that  becoming  modesty  in 
a  great  man  was  about  as  needful  as  anything  else." 
Therefore,  when  his  friend  Pickett  suggested  that  he 
might  aspire  to  the  Chief  Magistracy,  he  replied, 
"  I  do  not  think  I  am  fit  for  the  Presidency." 

But  he  had  friends  who  thought  differently,  and 
in  the  winter  of  1859,  Jackson  Grimshaw,  Mr.  Hatch, 
the  Secretary  of  State,  and  Messrs.  Bushnell,  Judd, 
and  Peck,  held  a  meeting,  and,  after  a  little  persuasion, 
induced  Lincoln  to  allow  them  to  put  him  forward 
as  a  candidate  for  the  great  office.  In  October,  1859, 
Lincoln  received  an  invitation  from  a  committee  of 
citizens  to  give  a  lecture  in  New  York.1  He  was  much 
pleased  with  this  inljmation  that  he  was  well  known 
in  "  the  East,"  and  wrote  out  with  great  care  a 
political  address,  which,  when  delivered,  was  warmly 
praised  by  the  newspapers,  one  of  which,  the 
"  Tribune,"  edited  by  Horace  Greeley,  declared  that 
no  man  ever  before  made  such  an  impression  on 
his  first  appeal  to  a  New  York  audience.  The  subject 
of  the  discourse  was  a  most  logical,  vigorous,  and 
masterly  comment  upon  an  assertion  which  Judge 
Douglas  had  made,  to  the  effect  that  the  framers 

1  See  Appendix. 


8o  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

of  the  Constitution  had  understood  and  approved 
of  slavery.  No  better  vindication  of  the  rights  of 
the  Republican  party  to  be  considered  as  expressing 
and  carrying  out  in  all  respects  the  opinions  of 
Washington  and  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution, 
was  ever  set  forth.  From  New  York  he  went  to 
New  England,  lecturing  in  many  cities,  and  every 
where  verifying  what  was  said  of  him  in  the  "  Man 
chester  Mirror,"  that  he  spoke  with  great  fairness, 
candour,  and  with  wonderful  interest.  "  He  did  not 
abuse  the  South,  the  Administration,  or  the  Demo 
crats.  He  is  far  from  prepossessing  in  personal 
appearance,  and  his  voice  is  disagreeable,  yet  he  wins 
your  attention  and  good-will  from  the  start.  His 
sense  of  the  ludicrous  is  very  keen,  and  an  exhibition 
of  that  is  the  clincher  of  all  his  arguments — not  the 
ludicrous  acts  of  persons,  but  ludicrous  ideas.  Hence 
he  is  never  offensive,  and  steals  away  willingly  into 
his  train  of  belief  persons  who  were  opposed  to  him. 
For  the  first  half-hour  his  opponents  would  agree 
with  every  word  he  uttered,  and  from  that  point  he 
began  to  lead  them  off,  little  by  little,  until  it  seemed 
as  if  he  had  got  them  all  into  his  fold." 

Lincoln  was  now  approaching  with  great  rapidity 
the  summit  of  his  wishes.  On  May  9th  and  loth  the 
Republican  State  Convention  met  at  Springfield  for  the 
purpose  of  nominating  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency, 
and  it  is  said  that  Lincoln  did  not  appear  to  have 


The  State  Nomination.  Si 

had  any  idea  that  any  business  relative  to  himself 
was  to  be  transacted.  For  it  is  unquestionable  that, 
while  very  ambitious,  he  was  at  the  same  time 
remarkably  modest.  When  he  went  to  lecture  in 
New  York,  and  the  press  reporters  asked  him  for 
"slips,"  or  copies  of  his  speech,  he  was  astonished, 
not  feeling  sure  whether  the  newspapers  would  care 
to  publish  it.  At  this  Convention,  he  was  "sitting 
on  his  heels"  in  a  back  part  of  the  room,  and  the 
Governor  of  Illinois,  as  soon  as  the  meeting  was 
organised,  rose  and  said — "  I  am  informed  that  a 
distinguished  citizen  of  Illinois,  and  one  whom 
Illinois  will  ever  delight  to  honour,  is  present,  and 
I  wish  to  move  that  this  body  invite  him  to  a 
seat  on  the  stand."  And,  pausing,  he  exclaimed, 
"Abraham  Lincoln."  There  was  tremendous  applause, 
and  the  mob  seizing  Lincoln,  raised  him  in  their 
arms,  and  bore  him,  sturdily  resisting,  to  the  plat 
form.  A  gentleman  who  was  present  said — "  I  then 
thought  him  one  of  the  most  diffident  and  worst- 
plagued  men  I  ever  saw."  The  next  proceeding  was 
most  amusing  and  characteristic,  it  being  the  entrance 
of  "  Old  John  Hanks,"  with  two  fence-rails  bearing 
the  inscription — Two  Rails  from  a  lot  made  by 
Abraham  Lincoln  and  John  Hanks  in  the  Sangamon 
bottom  in  the  year  1830.  The  end  was  that  Lincoln 
was  the  declared  candidate  of  his  state  for  the 
Presidency. 


82  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

But  there  were  other  candidates  from  other  states, 
and  at  the  great  Convention  in  Chicago,  on  May 
i6th,  there  was  as  fierce  intriguing  and  as  much 
shrewdness  shown  as  ever  attended  the  election  of 
a  Pope.  After  publishing  the  "platform,"  or  declara 
tion  of  the  principles  of  the  Republican  party — which 
was  in  the  main  a  stern  denunciation  of  all  further 
extension  of  slavery — with  a  declaration  in  favour 
of  protection,  the  rights  of  foreign  citizens,  and  a 
Pacific  railroad,  the  Convention  proceeded  to  the 
main  business.  It  was  soon  apparent  that  the  real 
strife  lay  between  W.  H.  Seward,  of  New  York,  and 
Abraham  Lincoln.  It  would  avail  little  to  expose 
all  the  influences  of  trickery  and  enmity  resorted  to 
by  the  friends  of  either  candidate  on  this  occasion — 
suffice  it  to  say  that,  eventually,  Lincoln  received 
the  nomination,  which  was  the  prelude  to  the  most 
eventful  election  ever  witnessed  in  America.  What 
followed  has  been  well  described  by  Lamon. 

"All  that  day,  and  all  the  day  previous,  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  at  Springfield,  trying  to  behave  as 
usual,  but  watching,  with  nervous  anxiety,  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  Convention  as  they  were  reported 
by  telegraph.  On  both  days  he  played  a  great  deal 
at  fives  in  a  ball-alley.  It  is  probable  that  he  took 
this  physical  mode  of  working  off  or  keeping  down 
the  excitement  that  threatened  to  possess  him. 
About  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  Mr.  Lincoln  came 


Success.  83 


to  the  office  of  Lincoln  and  Herndon.  Mr.  Baker 
entered,  with  a  telegram  which  said  the  names  of 
the  candidates  had  been  announced,  and  that  Mr. 
Lincoln's  had  been  received  with  more  applause  than 
any  other.  When  the  news  of  the  first  ballot  came 
over  the  wire,  it  was  apparent  to  all  present  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  thought  it  very  favourable.  He  believed 
if  Mr.  Seward  failed  to  get  the  nomination,  or  to 
come  very  near  it,  on  the  first  ballot,  he  would  fail 
altogether.  Presently,  news  of  the  second  ballot 
arrived,  and  then  Mr.  Lincoln  showed  by  his  manner 
that  he  considered  the  contest  no  longer  doubtful. 
'  I've  got  him,'  said  he.  When  the  decisive  despatch 
at  length  arrived,  there  was  great  commotion.  Mr. 
Lincoln  seemed  to  be  calm,  but  a  close  observer 
could  detect  in  his  countenance  the  indications  of 
deep  emotion.  In  the  meantime,  cheers  for  Lincoln 
swelled  up  from  the  streets,  and  began  to  be  heard 
through  the  town.  Some  one  remarked,  '  Mr.  Lincoln, 
I  suppose  now  we  will  soon  have  a  book  containing 
your  life.'  '  There  is  not  much,'  he  replied,  '  in  my 
past  life  about  which  to  write  a  book,  as  it  seems 
to  me.'  Having  received  the  hearty  congratulations 
of  the  company  in  the  office,  he  descended  to  the 
street,  where  he  was  immediately  surrounded  by  Irish 
and  American  citizens;  and,  so  long  as  he  was  willing 
to  receive  it,  there  was  great  hand-shaking  and  felici 
tating.  *  Gentlemen,'  said  the  great  man,  with  a 


84  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

happy  twinkle  in  his  eye,  'you  had  better  come  up 
and  shake  my  hand  while  you  can  ;  honours  elevate 
some  men,  you  know.'  But  he  soon  bethought  him 
of  a  person  who  was  of  more  importance  to  him  than 
all  this  crowd.  Looking  towards  his  house,  he  said — 
'Well,  gentlemen,  there  is  a  little  short  woman  at 
our  house  who  is  probably  more  interested  in  this 
despatch  than  I  am  ;  and,  if  you  will  excuse  me,  I 
will  take  it  up  and  let  her  see  it.'" 

The  division  caused  by  Douglas  in  the  Democratic 
party  to  further  his  own  personal  ambition,  utterly 
destroyed  its  power  for  a  long  time.  The  result  was 
a  division — one  convention  nominating  Judge  Douglas 
for  the  Presidency,  with  Mr.  Johnson,  of  Georgia,  as 
Vice-President ;  and  the  other,  John  C.  Breckinridge, 
of  Kentucky,  with  Joseph  Lane,  of  Oregon,  for  the 
second  office.  Still  another  party,  the  Constitutional 
Union  party,  nominated  John  Bell,  of  Tennessee, 
and  Edward  Everett,  of  Massachusetts,  for  President 
and  Vice-President.  Thus  there  were  four  rival 
armies  in  the  political  field,  soon  to  be  merged  into 
two  in  real  strife.  On  Nov.  6th,  1860,  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  elected  President  of  the  United  States, 
receiving  1,857,610  votes;  Douglas  had  1,291,574; 
Breckinridge,  850,082;  Bell,  646,124.  Of  all  the 
votes  really  cast,  there  was  a  majority  of  930,170 
against  Lincoln — a  fact  which  was  afterwards  con 
tinually  urged  by  the  Southern  party,  which  called 


Office-Hunters.  85 


him  the  Minority  President.  But  when  the  electors 
who  are  chosen  to  elect  the  President  met,  they  gave 
Lincoln  1 80  votes;  Breckinridge,  72  ;  Bell,  30 ;  while 
Douglas,  who  might,  beyond  question,  have  been  the 
successful  candidate  had  he  been  less  crafty,  received 
only  12.  The  strife  between  him  and  Lincoln  had 
been  like  that  between  the  giant  and  the  hero  in 
the  Norse  mythology,  wherein  the  two  gave  to  each 
other  riddles,  on  the  successful  answers  to  which 
their  lives  depended.  Judge  Douglas  strove  to 
entrap  Lincoln  with  a  long  series  of  questions  which 
were  easily  eluded,  but  one  was  demanded  of  the 
questioner  himself,  and  the  answer  he  gave  to  it 
proved  his  destruction. 

The  immediate  result  of  Lincoln's  election  was 
such  a  rush  of  hungry  politicians  seeking  office  as 
had  never  before  been  witnessed.  As  every  appoint 
ment  in  the  United  States,  from  the  smallest  post- 
office  to  a  Secretaryship,  is  in  the  direct  gift  of  the 
President,  the  newly-elected  found  himself  attacked 
by  thousands  of  place-hunters,  ready  to  prove  that 
they  were  the  most  deserving  men  in  the  world  for 
reward  ;  and  if  they  did  not,  as  "Artemus  Ward" 
declares,  come  down  the  chimneys  of  the  White 
House  to  interview  him,  they  at  least  besieged  him 
with  such  pertinacity,  and  made  him  so  thoroughly 
wretched,  that  he  is  said  to  have  at  last  replied  to 
one  man  who  insisted  that  it  was  really  to  his 


86  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

exertions  that  the  President  owed  his  election — 
"  If  that  be  so,  I  wonder  you  are  not  ashamed  to 
look  me  in  the  face  for  getting  me  into  such  an 
abominable  situation." 

From  his  own  good  nature,  and  from  a  sincere 
desire  to  really  deserve  his  popular  name  of  Honest 
Old  Abe,  Lincoln  determined  to  appoint  the  best 
men  to  office,  irrespective  of  party.  Hoping  against 
hope  to  preserve  the  Union,  he  would  have  given 
place  in  his  Cabinet  to  Southern  Democrats  as  well 
as  to  Northern  Republicans.  But  as  soon  as  it  was 
understood  that  he  was  elected,  and  that  the  country 
would  have  a  President  opposed  to  the  extension 
of  slavery,  the  South  began  to  prepare  to  leave  the 
Union,  and  for  war.  It  was  in  vain  that  Lincoln 
and  the  great  majority  of  his  party  made  it  clear 
as  possible  that,  rather  than  see  the  country  destroyed 
by  war  and  by  disunion,  they  would  leave  slavery  as 
it  was.  This  did  not  suit  the  views  of  the  "  rule-or- 
ruin"  party  of  the  South  ;  and  as  secession  from  the 
Federal  Union  became  a  fixed  fact,  their  entire  press 
and  all  their  politicians  declared  that  their  object  was 
not  merely  to  build  up  a  Southern  Confederacy,  but 
to  legislate  so  as  to  destroy  the  industry  of  the  North, 
and  break  the  old  Union  into  a  thousand  conflicting 
independent  governments.  Therefore,  Lincoln,  in 
intending  to  offer  seats  in  the  Cabinet  to  Alexander 
H.  Stephens,  James  Guthrie,  of  Kentucky,  and  John 


Rumours  of  War.  87 

A.  Gilmer,  of  North  Carolina,  made — if  sincere — a 
great  mistake,  though  one  in  every  way  creditable 
to  his  heart  and  his  courtesy.  The  truth  was,  that 
the  South  had  for  four  years  unanimously  determined 
to  secede,  and  was  actually  seceding  ;  while  the  North, 
which  had  gone  beyond  the  extreme  limits  of 
endurance  and  of  justice  itself  to  conciliate  the  South, 
could  not  believe  that  fellow-countrymen  and  brothers 
seriously  intended  war.  For  it  was  predetermined 
and  announced  by  the  Southern  press  that,  unless 
the  Federal  Government  would  make  concessions 
beyond  all  reason,  and  put  itself  in  the  position  of 
a  disgraced  and  conquered  state,  there  must  be  war. 
As  the  terrible  darkness  began  to  gather,  and  the 
storm-signals  to  appear,  Lincoln  sought  for  temporary 
relief  in  visiting  his  stepmother  and  other  old  friends 
and  relatives  in  Coles  County.  The  meeting  with 
her  whom  he  had  always  regarded  as  his  mother  was 
very  touching ;  it  was  the  more  affecting  because  she, 
to  whom  he  was  the  dearest  on  earth,  was  under 
an  impression,  which  time  rendered  prophetic,  that 
he  would,  as  President,  be  assassinated.  This  antici 
pation  spread  among  his  friends,  who  vied  with  one 
another  in  gloomy  suggestions  of  many  forms 
of  murder — while  one  very  zealous  prophet,  who 
had  fixed  on  poison  as  the  means  by  which  Lincoln 
would  die,  urged  him  to  take  as  a  cook  from  home 
"one  among  his  own  female  friends." 


CHAPTER    VI. 

A  Suspected  Conspiracy — Lincoln's  Departure  for  Washington — His 
Speeches  at  Springfield  and  on  the  road  to  the  National  Capital — 
Breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion — Treachery  of  President  Buchanan — 
Treason  in  the  Cabinet — Jefferson  Davis's  Message — 'Ihreats  nf  Massacre 
and  Ruin  to  the  North — Southern  Sympathisers — Lincoln's  Inaugural 
Address — The  Cabinet — The  Days  of  Doubt  and  of  Darkness. 

IT  was  unfortunate  for  Lincoln  that  he  listened 
to  the  predictions  of  his  alarmed  friends.  So 
generally  did  the  idea  prevail  that  an  effort  would 
be  made  to  kill  him  on  his  way  to  Washington,  that 
a  few  fellows  of  the  lower  class  in  Baltimore,  headed 
by  a  barber  named  Ferrandina,  thinking  to  gain  a 
little  notoriety — as  they  actually  did  get  some  money 
from  Southern  sympathisers — gave  out  that  they 
intended  to  murder  Mr.  Lincoln  on  his  journey  to 
Washington.  Immediately  a  number  of  detectives 
was  set  to  work  ;  and  as  everybody  seemed  to  wish 
to  find  a  plot,  a  plot  was  found,  or  imagined,  and 
Lincoln  was  persuaded  to  pass  privately  and  disguised 
on  a  special  train  from  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania,  to 
Washington,  where  he  arrived  February  23rd,  1861. 
Before  leaving  Springfield,  he  addressed  his  friends  at 
the  moment  of  parting,  at  the  railway  station,  in  a 
speech  of  impressive  simplicity. 


The  Springfield  Speech.  89 

"  FRIENDS, — No  one  who  has  never  been  placed  in  a  like 
position  can  understand  my  feelings  at  this  hour,  nor  the 
oppressive  sadness  I  feel  at  this  parting.  For  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  I  have  lived  among  you,  and  during 
all  that  time  I  have  received  nothing  but  kindness  at  your 
hands.  Here  I  have  lived  from  youth  until  now  I  am  an  old 
man  ;  here  the  most  sacred  ties  of  earth  were  assumed ; 
here  all  my  children  were  born,  and  here  one  of  them  lies 
buried.  To  you,  dear  friends,  I  owe  all  that  I  have,  all  that 
I  am.  All  the  strange,  chequered  past  seems  now  to  crowd 
upon  my  mind.  To-day  I  leave  you.  I  go  to  assume  a 
task  more  difficult  than  that  which  devolved  upon  Washing 
ton.  Unless  the  great  God  who  assisted  him  shall  be  with 
me  and  aid  me,  I  must  fail;  but  if  the  same  omniscient 
mind  and  almighty  arm  that  directed  and  protected  him 
shall  guide  and  support  me,  I  shall  not  fail — 1  shall  succeed. 
Let  us  all  pray  that  the  God  of  our  fathers  may  not  forsake 
us  now.  To  Him  I  commend  you  all.  Permit  me  to  ask 
that  with  equal  sincerity  and  faith  you  will  invoke  His 
wisdom  and  guidance  for  me.  With  these  few  words  I 
must  leave  you,  for  how  long  I  know  not.  Friends,  one 
and  all,  I  must  now  bid  you  an  affectionate  farewell." 

It  may  be  observed  that  in  this  speech  Lincoln, 
notwithstanding  his  conciliatory  offers  to  the  South, 
apprehended  a  terrible  war,  and  that  when  speaking 
from  the  heart  he  showed  himself  a  religious  man. 
If  he  ever  spoke  in  earnest  it  was  on  this  occasion. 
One  who  had  heard  him  a  hundred  times  declared 
that  he  never  saw  him  so  profoundly  affected,  nor  did 
he  ever  utter  an  address  which  seemed  so  full  of 


go  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

simple  and  touching  eloquence  as  this.  It  left  his 
audience  deeply  affected  ;  but  the  same  people  were 
more  deeply  moved  at  his  return.  "  At  eight  o'clock," 
says  Lamon,  "  the  train  rolled  out  of  Springfield  amid 
the  cheers  of  the  populace.  Four  years  later,  a  funeral 
train,  covered  with  the  emblems  of  splendid  mourning, 
rolled  into  the  same  city,  bearing  a  corpse,  whose 
obsequies  were  being  celebrated  in  every  part  of  the 
civilised  world." 

Lincoln  made  several  speeches  at  different  places 
along  his  route  from  Springfield  to  Philadelphia,  and 
in  all  he  freely  discussed  the  difficulties  of  the  political 
crisis,  expressing  himself  to  the  effect  that  there  was 
really  no  danger  or  no  crisis,  since  he  was  resolved, 
with  all  the  Union-loving  men  of  the  North,  to  grant 
the  South  all  its  rights.  But  these  addresses  were  not 
all  sugar  and  rose-water.  At  Philadelphia  he  said — 

"  Now,  in  my  view  of  the  present  aspect  of  affairs,  there 
need  be  no  bloodshed  or  war.  There  is  no  necessity  for  it. 
I  am  not  in  favour  of  such  a  course;  and  I  may  say  in 
advance,  that  there  will  be  no  blood  shed,  unless  it  be 
forced  upon  the  Government,  and  then  it  will  be  compelled 
to  act  in  self-defence." 

Lincoln  had  declared  that  the  duties  which  would 
devolve  upon  him  would  be  greater  than  those  which 
had  devolved  upon  any  American  since  Washington. 
During  this  journey,  the  wisdom,  firmness,  and  ready 
tact  of  his  speeches  already  indicated  that  he  would 


Popular  Impressions  of  Lincoln.          gi 

perform  these  duties  of  statesmanship  in  a  masterly 
manner.  He  was  received  courteously  by  immense 
multitudes  ;  but  at  this  time  so  very  little  was  known 
of  him  beyond  the  fact  that  he  was  called  Honest  Old 
Abe  the  Rail-splitter,  and  that  he  had  sprung  from 
that  most  illiterate  source,  a  poor  Southern  back 
woods  family,  that  even  his  political  friends  went  to 
hear  him  with  misgivings  or  with  shame.  There  was 
a  general  impression  that  the  Republican  party  had 
gained  a  victory  by  truckling  to  the  mob,  and  by 
elevating  one  of  its  roughest  types  to  leadership. 
And  the  gaunt,  uncouth  appearance  of  the  President 
elect  fully  confirmed  this  opinion.  But  when  he 
spoke,  it  was  as  if  a  spell  had  been  removed ;  the 
disguise  of  Odin  fell  away,  and  people  knew  the 
Great  Man,  called  to  struggle  with  and  conquer  the 
rebellious  giants — a  hero  coming  with  the  right 
strength  at  the  right  time. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  conspiracy,  which  had 
been  preparing  in  earnest  for  thirty  years,  and  which 
the  North  for  as  many  years  refused  to  suspect,  had 
burst  forth.  South  Carolina  had  declared  that  if 
Lincoln  was  elected  she  would  secede,  and  on  the 
I /th  December,  1860,  she  did  so,  true  to  her  word  if 
not  to  her  duty.  In  quick  succession  six  States  fol 
lowed  her,  "  there  being  little  or  no  struggle,  in  those 
which  lay  upon  the  Gulf,  against  the  wild  tornado 
of  excitement  in  favour  of  rebellion."  "  In  the  Bor- 


92  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

der  States/'  says  Arnold — "  in  Maryland,  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  and  Missouri — there  was, 
however,  a  terrible  contest."  The  Union  ultimately 
triumphed  in  Maryland,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri, 
while  the  rebels  carried  Tennessee  with  great  difficul 
ty.  Virginia  seceded  on  April  i/th,  1861,  and  North 
Carolina  on  the  2Oth  of  May.  Everything  had  for 
years  been  made  ready  for  them.  President  Buchanan, 
who  preceded  Lincoln — a  man  of  feeble  mind,  and 
entirely  devoted  to  the  South — had  either  suffered  the 
rebels  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  facilitate  secession, 
or  had  directly  aided  them.  The  Secretary  of  War, 
John  B.  Floyd,  who  became  a  noted  rebel,  had  for 
months  been  at  work  to  paralyse  the  Northern  army. 
He  ordered  115,000  muskets  to  be  made  in  Northern 
arsenals  at  the  expense  of  the  Federal  Government, 
and  sent  them  all  to  the  South,  with  vast  numbers  of 
cannon,  mortars,  ammunition,  and  munitions  of  war. 
The  army,  reduced  to  16,000  men,  was  sent  to  remote 
parts  of  the  country,  and  as  the  great  majority  of  its 
officers  were  Southern  men,  they  of  course  resigned 
their  commissions,  and  went  over  to  the  Southern 
Confederacy.  Howell  Cobb  of  Georgia,  afterwards  a 
rebel  general,  was  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and,  as 
his  contribution  to  the  Southern  cause,  did  his  utmost, 
and  with  great  success,  to  cause  ruin  in  his  depart 
ment,  to  injure  the  national  credit,  and  empty  the 
treasury.  In  fact,  the  whole  Cabinet,  with  the  supple 


Treason  and  Secession.  93 

President  for  a  willing-  tool,  were  busy  for  months  in 
doing  all  in  their  power  to  utterly  break  up  the 
Government,  to  support  which  they  had  pledged  their 
faith  in  God  and  their  honour  as  gentlemen.  Linked 
with  them  in  disgrace  were  all  those  who,  after  uniting 
in  holding  an  election  for  President,  refused  to  abide- 
by  its  results.  On  the  2oth  Nov.,  1860,  the  Attorney- 
General  of  the  United  States,  Jer.  S.  Black,  gave,  as 
his  aid  to  treason,  the  official  opinion  that  "  Congress 
had  no  right  to  carry  on  war  against  any  State, 
either  to  prevent  a  threatened  violation  of  the 
Constitution,  or  to  enforce  an  acknowledgment  that 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  supreme ;" 
and  to  use  the  words  of  Raymond,  "  it  soon  became 
evident  that  the  President  adopted  this  theory  as  the 
basis  and  guide  of  his  executive  action." 

On  the  night  of  January  5th,  1861,  the  leading 
conspirators,  Jefferson  Davis,  with  Senators  Toombs, 
Iverson,  Slidell,  Benjamin,  Wigfall,  and  others,  held  a 
meeting,  at  which  it  was  resolved  that  the  South 
should  secede,  but  that  all  the  seceding  senators  and 
representatives  should  retain  their  seats  as  long  as 
possible,  in  order  to  inflict  injury  to  the  last  on  the 
Government  which  they  had  officially  pledged  them 
selves  to  protect.  At  the  suggestion  probably  of  Mr. 
Benjamin,  all  who  retired  were  careful  to  draw  not 
only  their  pay,  but  also  to  spoil  the  Egyptians  by 
taking  all  the  stationery,  documents,  and  "  mileage," 


94  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

or  allowance  for  travelling  expenses,  on  which  they 
could  lay  their  hands.  Only  two  of  all  the  Slave 
State  representatives  remained  true — Mr.  Bouligny 
from  New  Orleans,  and  Andrew  J.  Hamilton  from 
Texas.  When  President  Lincoln  came  to  Washington, 
it  was  indeed  to  enter  a  house  divided  against  itself, 
tottering  to  its  fall,  its  inner  chambers  a  mass  of  ruin. 
The  seven  States  which  had  seceded  sent  delegates, 
which  met  at  Montgomery,  Alabama,  February  4th, 
1861,  and  organised  a  government  and  constitution 
similar  to  that  of  the  United  States,  under  which 
Jefferson  Davis  was  President,  and  Alexander  H. 
Stephens  Vice-President.  No  one  had  threatened 
the  new  Southern  Government,  and  at  this  stage  the 
North  would  have  suffered  it  to  withdraw  in  peace 
from  the  Union,  so  great  was  the  dread  of  a  civil 
war.  But  the  South  did  not  want  peace.  Every 
Southern  newspaper,  every  rebel  orator,  was  now 
furiously  demanding  of  the  North  the  most  humiliat 
ing  concessions,  and  threatening  bloodshed  as  the 
alternative.  While  President  Lincoln,  in  his  Inaugural 
Address,  spoke  with  the  most  Christian  forbearance 
of  the  South,  Jefferson  Davis,  in  his,  assumed  all  the 
horrors  of  civil  war  as  a  foregone  conclusion.  He 
said,  that  if  they  were  permitted  to  secede  quietly, 
all  would  be  well.  If  forced  to  fight,  they  could  and 
would  maintain  their  position  by  the  sword,  and 
would  avail  themselves  to  the  utmost  of  the  liberties 


Crossing  Fox  River.  95 

of  war.  He  expected  that  the  North  would  be  the 
theatre  of  war,  but  no  Northern  city  ever  felt  the  rebel 
sword,  while  there  was  not  one  in  the  South  which 
did  not  suffer  terribly  from  the  effects  of  war.  Never 
in  history  was  the  awful  curse  Vce  metis  so  freely  in- 
voked  by  those  who  were  destined  to  be  conquered. 
It  was  characteristic  of  Lincoln  to  illustrate  his 
views  on  all  subjects  by  anecdotes,  which  were  so 
aptly  put  as  to  present  in  a  few  words  the  full  force 
of  his  argument.  Immediately  after  his  election, 
when  the  world  was  vexed  with  the  rumours  of  war, 
he  was  asked  what  he  intended  to  do  when  he  got 
to  Washington  ?  "  That,"  he  replied,  "  puts  me  in 
mind  of  a  little  story.  There  was  once  a  clergyman, 
who  expected  during  the  course  of  his  next  day's 
riding  to  cross  the  Fox  River,  at  a  time  when  the 
stream  would  be  swollen  by  a  spring  freshet,  making 
the  passage  extremely  dangerous.  On  being  asked 
by  anxious  friends  if  he  was  not  afraid,  and  what  he 
intended  to  do,  the  clergyman  calmly  replied,  '  I  have 
travelled  this  country  a  great  deal,  and  I  can  assure 
you  that  I  have  no  intention  of  trying  to  cross  Fox 
River  until  I  get  to  it?"  The  dangers  of  the  political 
river  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  to  cross  were  very  great. 
It.  is  usual  in  England  to  regard  the  struggle  of  the 
North  with  the  South  during  the  Rebellion  as  that  of 
a  great  power  with  a  lesser  one,  and  sympathy  was  in 
consequence  given  to  the  so-called  weaker  side.  But 
*^e  strictest  truth  shows  that  the  Union  party,  what 


96  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

with  the  Copperheads,  or  sympathisers  with  the 
South,  at  home,  and  with  open  foes  in  the  field, 
was  never  at  any  time  much  more  than  equal  to 
either  branch  of  the  enemy,  and  that,  far  from 
being  the  strongest  in  numbers,  it  was  as  one  to 
two.  Those  in  its  ranks  who  secretly  aided  the 
enemy  were  numerous  and  powerful.  The  Union 
armies  were  sometimes  led  by  generals  whose  hearts 
were  with  the  foe ;  and  for  months  after  the  war 
broke  out,  the  entire  telegraph  service  of  the  Union 
was,  owing  to  the  treachery  of  officials,  entirely  at  the 
service  of  the  Confederates. 

It  must  be  fairly  admitted,  and  distinctly  bor.ne  in 
mind,  that  the  South  had  at  least  good  apparent 
reason  for  believing  that  the  North  would  yield  to 
any  demands,  and  was  so  corrupt  that  it  would 
crumble  at  a  touch  into  numberless  petty,  warring 
States,  while  the  Confederacy,  firm  and  united,  would 
eventually  master  them  all,  and  rule  the  Continent. 
For  years,  leaders  like  President  Buchanan  had  been 
their  most  submissive  tools  ;  and  the  number  of  men 
in  the  North  who  were  willing  to  grant  them  every 
thing  very  nearly  equalled  that  of  the  Republican 
party.  From  the  beginning  they  were  assured  by  the 
press  and  leaders  of  the  Democrats,  or  Copperheads, 
that  they  would  soon  conquer,  and  receive  material 
aid  from  Northern  sympathisers.  And  there  were 
in  all  the  Northern  cities  many  of  these,  who  were 


Enemies  at  Home.  97 

eagerly  awaiting  a  breaking-up  of  the  Union,  in  order 
that  they  might  profit  by  its  ruin.  Thus,  immediately 
after  the  secession  of  South  Carolina,  Fernando 
Wood,  Mayor  of  New  York,  issued  a  proclamation, 
in  which  he  recommended  that  it  should  secede, 
and  become  a  "  free  city."  All  over  the  country, 
Democrats  like  Wood  were  looking  forward  to 
revolutions  in  which  something  might  be  picked  up, 
and  not  a  few  really  spoke  of  the  revival  of  titles  of 
nobility.  All  of  these  prospective  governors  of  lordly 
Baratarias  avowed  sympathy  with  the  South.  It  was 
chiefly  by  reliance  on  these  Northern  sympathisers 
that  the  Confederacy  was  led  to  its  ruin.  President 
Lincoln  found  himself  in  command  of  a  beleagured 
fortress  which  had  been  systematically  stripped  and 
injured  by  his  predecessor,  a  powerful  foe  storming 
without,  and  nearly  half  his  men  doing  their  utmost 
to  aid  the  enemy  from  within. 

On  the  4th  March,  1861,  Lincoln  took  the  oath 
to  fulfil  his  duties  as  President,  and  delivered  his 
inaugural  address.  In  this  he  began  by  asserting  that 
he  had  no  intention  of  interfering  with  slavery  as  it 
existed,  or  of  interfering  in  any  way  with  the  rights 
of  the  South,  and  urged  that,  by  law,  fugitive  slaves 
must  be  restored  to  their  owners.  In  reference  to 
the  efforts  being  made  to  break  up  the  Union,  he 
maintained  that,  by  universal  law  and  by  the  Con 
stitution,  the  union  of  the  States  must  be  perpetual. 


98  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

"  It  is  safe  to  assert,"  he  declared,  "  that  no  govern 
ment  proper  ever  had  a  provision  in  its  organic  law 
for  its  own  termination."  With  great  wisdom,  and 
in  the  most  temperate  language,  he  pointed  out  the 
impossibility  of  any  government,  in  the  true  sense  of 
the  word,  being  liable  to  dissolution  because  a  party 
wished  it.  One  party  to  a  contract  may  violate  or 
break  it,  but  it  requires  all  to  lawfully  rescind  it. 

"  I  therefore  consider  that,  in  view  of  the  Constitution 
and  the  laws,  the  Union  is  unbroken ;  and  to  the  extent  of 
my  ability,  I  shall  take  care,  as  the  Constitution  itself 
expressly  enjoins  upon  me,  that  the  laws  of  the  Union  be 
faithfully  executed  in  all  the  States.  Doing  this  I  deem  to 
be  only  a  simple  duty  on  my  part;  and  I  shall  perform  it 
as  far  as  practicable,  unless  my  rightful  masters,  the 
American  people,  shall  withhold  the  requisite  means,  or  in 
some  authoritative  manner  direct  the  contrary." 

He  asserted  that  the  power  confided  to  him 
would  be  used  to  hold  and  possess  all  Govern 
ment  property  and  collect  duties ;  but  went  so 
far  in  conciliation  as  to  declare,  that  wherever 
hostility  to  the  United  States  should  be  so  great  and 
universal  as  to  prevent  competent  resident  citizens 
from  holding  the  Federal  offices,  there  would  be  no 
attempt  to  force  obnoxious  strangers  among  the 
people  for  that  object  Where  the  enforcement  of 
such  matters,  though  legally  right,  might  be  irritating 
and  nearly  impracticable,  he  would  deem  it  better  to 


His  Inaugural  Address.  99 

forego  for  a  time  the  uses  of  such  offices.  He  pointed 
out  that  the  principle  of  secession  was  simply  that 
of  anarchy ;  that  to  admit  the  claim  of  a  minority 
would  be  to  destroy  any  government ;  while  he 
indicated  with  great  intelligence  the  precise  limits 
of  the  functions  of  the  Supreme  Court.  And  he 
briefly  explained  the  impossibility  of  a  divided  Union 
existing,  save  in  a  jarring  and  ruinous  manner. 
"  Physically  speaking,"  he  said,  "  we  cannot  separate. 
We  cannot  remove  our  respective  sections  from  each 
other,  nor  build  an  impassable  wall  between  them.  A 
husband  and  wife  may  be  divorced,  and  go  out  of  the 
presence  and  beyond  the  reach  of  each  other,  but  the 
different  parts  of  our  country  cannot  do  this.  They 
cannot  but  remain  face  to  face;  and  intercourse  either 
amicable  or  hostile  must  continue  between  them.  Why 
should  there  not  be,"  he  added,  "  a  patient  confidence 
in  the  ultimate  justice  of  the  people  ?  Is  there  any 
better  or  equal  hope  in  the  world  ?  In  our  present 
differences,  is  either  party  without  faith  of  being  in 
the  right  ?  If  the  Mighty  Ruler  of  Nations,  with  His 
eternal  truth  and  justice,  be  on  your  side  of  the 
North,  or  on  yours  of  the  South,  that  truth  and 
that  justice  will  surely  prevail  by  the  judgment  of 
this  great  tribunal  of  the  American  people." 

It  has  been  well  said  that  this  address  was  the 
wisest  utterance  of  the  time.  Yet  it  was,  with  all 
its  gentle  and  conciliatory  feelings,  at  once  misrepre- 


ioo  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

sented  through  the  South  as  a  malignant  and  tyran 
nical  threat  of  war ;  for  to  such  a  pitch  of  irritability 
and  arrogance  had  the  entire  Southern  party  been 
raised,  that  any  words  from  a  Northern  ruler,  not 
expressive  of  the  utmost  devotion  to  their  interests, 
seemed  literally  like  insult.  It  was  not  enough  to 
promise  them  to  be  bound  by  law,  when  they  held 
that  the  only  law  should  be  their  own  will. 

To  those  who  lived  through  the  dark  and  dreadful 
days  which  preceded  the  outburst  of  the  war,  every 
memory  is  like  that  of  one  who  has  passed  through  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death.  It  was  known  that  the 
enemy  was  coming  from  abroad  ;  yet  there  were  few 
who  could  really  regard  him  as  an  enemy,  for  it  was 
as  when  a  brother  advances  to  slay  a  brother,  and  the 
victim,  not  believing  in  the  threat,  rises  to  throw 
himself  into  the  murderer's  arms.  And  vigorous 
defence  was  further  paralysed  by  the  feeling  that 
traitors  were  everywhere  at  work — in  the  army,  in 
the  Cabinet,  in  the  family  circle. 

President  Lincoln  proceeded  at  once  to  form  his 
Cabinet.  It  consisted  of  William  H.  Seward — who  had 
been  his  most  formidable  competitor  at  the  Chicago 
Convention — who  became  Secretary  of  State  ;  Simon 
Cameron — whose  appointment  proved  as  discreditable 
to  Mr.  Lincoln  as  to  the  country — as  Secretary  of 
War ;  Salmon  P.  Chase,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury ; 
Gideon  Welles,  Secretary  of  the  Navy ;  Caleb  B. 


Days  of  Doubt.  101 


Smith,  Secretary  of  the  Interior  ;  Montgomery  Blair, 
Postmaster-General ;  and  Edward  Bates,  Attorney- 
General.  It  was  well  for  the  President  that  these 
were  all,  except  Cameron,  wise  and  honest  men,  for 
the  situation  of  the  country  was  one  of  doubt,  danger, 
and  disorganisation.  In  Congress,  in  every  drawing- 
room,  there  were  people  who  boldly  asserted  and 
believed  in  the  words  of  a  rebel,  expressed  to  B.  F. 
Butler — that  "  the  North  could  not  fight ;  that  the 
South  had  too  many  allies  there."  "You  have 
friends,"  said  Butler,  "in  the  North  who  will  stand 
by  you  as  long  as  you  fight  your  battles  in  the 
Union  ;  but  the  moment  you  fire  on  the  flag,  the 
Northern  people  will  be  a  unit  against  you.  And 
you  may  be  assured,  if  war  comes,  slavery  ends" 
Orators  and  editors  in  the  North  proclaimed,  in  the 
boldest  manner,  that  the  Union  must  go  to  fragments 
and  ruin,  and  that  the  only  hope  of  safety  lay  in 
suffering  the  South  to  take  the  lead,  and  in  humbly 
following  her.  The  number  of  these  despairing 
people — or  Croakers,  as  they  were  called — was  very 
great ;  they  believed  that  Republicanism  had  proved 
itself  a  failure,  and  that  on  slavery  alone  could  a  firm 
government  be  based.  Open  treason  was  unpunished  ; 
it  was  boldly  said  that  Southern  armies  would  soon 
be  on  Northern  soil ;  the  New  Administration  seemed 
to  be  without  a  basis ;  in  those  days,  no  men  except 
rebels  seemed  to  know  what  to  do. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

far.  Seward  refuses  to  meet  the  Rebel  Commissioners — Lincoln's  Forbear 
ance — Fort  Sumter — Gail  for  75,000  Troops — Troubles  in  Maryland- 
Administrative  Prudence — Judge  Douglas — Increase  of  the  Army — 
Winthrop  and  Ellsworth— Bull  Run — General  M'Clellan. 

IT  was  on  the  I2th  of  March,  1861,  that  the  rebel 
or  Confederate  States  sent  Commissioners  to  the 
United  States  to  adjust  matters  in  reference  to 
secession.  Mr.  Sevvard  refused  to  receive  them,  on 
the  ground  that  they  had  not  withdrawn  from  the 
Union,  and  were  unable  to  do  so  unless  it  were  by 
the  authority  of  a  National  Convention  acting  accord 
ing  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  On 
the  9th  of  April  the  Commissioners  left,  declaring 
in  a  letter  that  "  they  accepted  the  gage  of  battle." 
As  yet  there  was  no  decided  policy  in  the  North, 
and  prominent  Democrats  like  Douglas  were  not  in 
favour  of  compelling  the  seceding  States  to  remain. 
Mr.  Everett  was  preaching  love,  forgiveness,  and 
union,  while  the  Confederate  Government  was  seizing 
on  "  all  the  arsenals,  forts,  custom-houses,  post-offices, 
ships,  ordnance,  and  material  of  war  belonging  to 
the  United  States,  within  the  seceding  States."  In 
fact,  the  South  knew  exactly  what  it  meant  to  do, 


His   Wise  Forbearance.  103 

and  was  doing  it  vigorously,  while  the  North  was 
entirely  undecided.  In  the  spring-  of  1 86 1,  Congress 
had  adjourned  without  making  any  preparation  for 
the  tremendous  and  imminent  crisis. 

But  the  entire  South  had  not  as  yet  seceded.  The 
Border  States  were  not  in  favour  of  war.  In  the 
words  of  Arnold,  "  to  arouse  sectional  feeling  and 
prejudice,  and  secure  co-operation  and  unanimity,  it 
was  deemed  necessary  to  precipitate  measures  and 
bring  on  a  conflict  of  arms."  It  was  generally  felt 
that  the  first  blood  shed  would  bring  all  the  Slave 
States  into  union.  The  anti-war  party  was  so 
powerful  in  the  North,  that  it  now  appears  almost 
certain  that,  if  President  Lincoln  had  proceeded  at 
once  to  put  down  the  rebellion  with  a  strong  hand, 
there  would  have  been  a  counter-rebellion  in  the 
North.  For  not  doing  this  he  was  bitterly  blamed, 
but  time  has  justified  him.  By  his  forbearance, 
Maryland,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri  were  undoubtedly 
kept  in  the  Federal  Union.  His  wisdom  was  also 
shown  in  two  other  respects,  as  soon  as  it  was 
possible  to  do  so.  There  had  existed  for  years  in 
New  York  an  immense  slave-trading  business,  headed 
by  a  Spaniard  named  Juarez.  Vessels  were  bought 
almost  openly,  and  Government  officials  were  bribed 
to  let  these  pirates  loose.  This  infamous  traffic  was 
very  soon  brought  to  an  end,  so  far  as  the  United 
States  were  concerned.  Another  task,  which  was 


IO4  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

rapidly  and  well  performed,  was  the  "sifting  out"  of 
rebels,  or, rebel  sympathisers,  from  Government  offices, 
where  they  abounded  and  acted  as  spies.  Even 
General  Scott,  an  old  man  full  of  honour,  who  was 
at  the  head  of  the  army,  though  true  to  the  Union, 
was  Southern  by  sympathy  and  opposed  to  coercion, 
and  most  of  the  officers  of  the  army  were  like  him 
in  this  respect. 

The  refusal  of  Mr.  Seward  to  treat  with  the 
rebel  government  was  promptly  made  the  occasion 
for  the  act  of  violence  which  was  to  unite  the 
Confederacy.  There  was,  near  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  a  fort  called  Sumter,  held  for  the  United 
States  by  Major  Robert  Anderson,  a  brave  and  loyal 
man.  On  the  I  ith  of  April,  1861,  he  was  summoned 
to  surrender  the  fort  to  the  Confederate  Government, 
which  he  refused  to  do.  As  he  was,  however,  without 
provisions,  it  was  eventually  agreed,  on  the  I2th 
April,  that  he  should  leave  the  fort  by  noon  on  the 
1 5th.  But  the  rebels,  in  their  impatience,  could  not 
wait,  and  they  informed  him  that,  unless  he  surren 
dered  within  one  hour,  the  fort  would  be  bombarded. 
This  was  done,  and,  after  a  bombardment  of  thirty- 
three  hours,  bravely  borne,  the  Major  and  his  band 
of  seventy  men  were  obliged  to  surrender. 

It  is  true  that  this  first  firing  on  the  American  flag 
acted  like  the  tap  of  the  drum,  calling  all  the  South 
to  arms  in  a  frenzy,  and  sweeping  away  all  the 


The  Fall  of  Sumter.  105 

remnants  of  attachment  to  the  old  Union  lingering 
in  it.  The  utmost  hopes  of  the  rebel  leaders  were 
for  the  time  fully  realised.  But  the  North  was,  to 
their  amazement,  not  paralysed  or  struck  clown,  nor 
did  the  Democratic  sympathisers  with  the  South 
arise  and  crush  "  Lincoln  and  his  minions."  On  the 
contrary,  the  news  of  the  fall  of  Sumter  was  "  a  live 
coal  on  the  heart  cf  the  American  people  ;"  and  such 
a  tempest  of  rage  swept  in  a  day  over  millions,  as 
had  never  before  been  witnessed  in  America.  Those 
who  can  recall  the  day  on  which  the  news  of  the 
insult  to  the  flag  was  received,  and  how  it  was 
received,  have  the  memory  of  the  greatest  conceivable 
outburst  of  patriotic  passion.  For  a  time,  all  party 
feelings  were  forgotten  ;  there  was  no  more  thought 
of  forgiveness,  or  suffering  secession ;  the  whole 
people  rose  up  and  cried  out  for  war. 

Hitherto,  the  press  had  railed  at  Lincoln  for 
wanting  a  policy ;  and  yet  if  he  had  made  one  step 
towards  suppressing  the  rebels,  "a  thousand  Northern 
newspapers  would  have  pounced  upon  him  as  one 
provoking  war."  Now,  however,  his  policy  was 
formed,  shaped,  and  made  glowing  hot  by  One 
terrible  blow.  On  April  I5th,  1861,  he  issued  a  pro 
clamation,  announcing  that,  as  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  were  being  opposed,  and  the  execution  thereof 
obstructed  in  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama, 
Florida,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas,  by  com- 


106  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

binations  too  powerful  to  be  suppressed  by  the 
ordinary  course  of  judicial  proceedings,  he,  the  Pre 
sident  of  the  United  States,  called  forth  the  militia 
of  the  several  States  of  the  Union,  to  the  aggregate 
number  of  75,000,  in  order  to  suppress  said  combina 
tions,  and  to  cause  the  laws  to  be  duly  executed. 
In  strong  contrast  to  the  threats  of  general  slaughter, 
and  conflagration  of  Northern  cities,  so  freely  thrown 
out  by  Jefferson  Davis,  President  Lincoln  declared 
that,  while  the  duty  of  these  troops  would  be  to 
repossess  the  forts  and  property  taken  from  the 
Union,  "in  every  event  the  utmost  care  will  be 
observed,  consistently  with  the  objects  aforesaid,  to 
avoid  any  devastation,  any  destruction  of  or  inter 
ference  with  property,  or  any  disturbance  of  peaceful 
citizens,  in  any  part  of  the  country."  He  also  sum 
moned  an  extraordinary  session  of  Congress  to 
assemble  on  the  4th  of  July,  1861. 

This  proclamation  awoke  intense  enthusiasm,  "and 
from  private  persons,  as  well  as  by  the  Legislature, 
men,  arms,  and  money  were  offered  in  unstinted 
profusion  in  support  of  the  Government.  Massa 
chusetts  was  first  in  the  field  ;  and  on  the  first  day 
after  the  issue  of  the  proclamation,  the  6th  Regiment 
started  from  Boston  for  the  national  capital.  Two 
more  regiments  departed  within  forty-eight  hours. 
The  6th  Regiment,  on  its  way  to  Washington,  on 
the  ipth  April,  was  attacked  by  a  mob  in  Baltimore, 


Governor  Hicks  of  Maryland.          107 

carrying  a  secession  flag,  and  several  of  its  members 
were  killed."  This  inflamed  to  a  higher  point  the 
entire  North  ;  and  Governor  Hicks,  of  Maryland,  and 
Mayor  Brown,  of  Baltimore,  urged  it  on  President 
Lincoln  that,  "  for  prudential  reasons,"  no  more  troops 
should  be  sent  through  Baltimore.  This  Governor 
Hicks  had,  during  the  previous  November,  written 
a  letter,  in  which  he  regretted  that  his  state  could 
not  supply  the  rebel  states  with  arms  more  rapidly, 
and  expressed  the  hope  that  those  who  were  to  bear 
them  would  be  "good  men  to  kill  Lincoln  and  his 
men."  But  by  adroitly  shifting  to  the  wind,  he 
"  became  conspicuously  loyal  before  spring,  and  lived 
to  reap  splendid  rewards  and  high  honours  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Federal  Government,  as  the  most 
patriotic  and  devoted  Union-man  in  Maryland." 
Yet  as  one  renegade  is  said  to  be  more  zealous  than 
ten  Turks,  it  cannot  be  denied  that,  after  Governor 
Hicks  became  a  Union-man,  he  worked  bravely,  and 
his  efficiency  in  preserving  Maryland  from  seceding 
was  only  inferior  to  that  of  the  able  Henry  Winter 
Davis.  This  Governor  Hicks  had  suggested  to  Pre 
sident  Lincoln  that  the  controversy  between  North 
and  South  might  be  referred  to  Lord  Lyons,  the 
British  Minister,  for  arbitration.  To  these  requests 
the  President  replied,  through  Mr.  Seward,  that  as 
General  Scott  deemed  it  advisable,  and  as  the  chief 
object  in  bringing  troops  was  the  defence  of  Washing- 


xoS  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

ton,  he    made   no   point  of  bringing   them    through 
Baltimore.     But  he  concluded  with  these  words — 

"The  President  cannot  but  remember  that  there  has 
been  a  time  in  the  history  of  our  country  when  a  General 
of  the  American  Union,  with  forces  destined  for  the  defence 
of  its  capital,  was  not  unwelcome  anywhere  in  the  State  of 
Maryland. 

"  If  eighty  years  could  have  obliterated  all  the  other 
noble  sentiments  of  that  age  in  Maryland,  the  President 
would  be  hopeful,  nevertheless,  that  there  is  one  that  would 
for  ever  remain  there  and  everywhere.  That  sentiment  is, 
that  no  domestic  contention  whatever  that  may  arise  among 
the  parties  of  this  republic  ought  in  any  case  to  be  referred 
to  any  foreign  arbitrament,  least  of  all  to  the  arbitrament 
of  a  European  monarchy." 

It  is  certain  that  by  this  humane  and  wise  policy, 
which  many  attributed  to  cowardice,  President 
Lincoln  not  only  prevented  much  bloodshed  and 
devastation,  but  also  preserved  the  State  of  Maryland. 
In  such  a  crisis  harshly  aggressive  measures  in  Mary 
land  would  have  irritated  millions  on  the  border,  and 
perhaps  have  promptly  brought  the  war  further 
north.  As  it  was,  peace  and  order  were  soon  restored 
in  Baltimore,  when  the  regular  use  of  the  highway 
through  that  city  was  resumed. 

On  the  I Qth  April,  1861,  the  President  issued 
another  proclamation,  declaring  the  blockade  of  the 
ports  of  the  seceding  states.  This  was  virtually  an 


Davis 's    Threats.  109 

answer  to  one  from  Jefferson  Davis,  offering  letters 
of  marque  to  all  persons  who  might  desire  to  aid 
the  rebel  government,  and  enrich  themselves,  by 
depredations  upon  the  rich  and  extended  commerce 
of  the  United  States.  It  may  be  remarked  that  the 
first  official  words  of  Jefferson  Davis  were  singularly 
ferocious,  threatening  fire,  brigandage,  and  piracy, 
disguised  as  privateering,  in  all  their  terrors ;  while  his 
last  act  as  President  was  to  run  away,  disguised  as  an 
old  woman,  in  his  wife's  waterproof  cloak,  and  carrying 
a  bucket  of  water — thus  typifying  in  his  own  person 
the  history  of  the  rebellion  from  its  fierce  beginning 
to  its  ignominious  end. 

It  may  be  doubted  if  there  was  in  those  wild  days 
in  all  North  America  one  man  who  to  such  wise 
forbearance  added  such  firmness  and  moral  courage 
as  President  Lincoln  manifested.  By  it  he  preserved 
Maryland,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Missouri,  and, 
if  moderation  could  have  availed,  he  might  have  kept 
Virginia.  Strange  as  it  seems,  while  the  seceding 
states  were  threatening  officially,  and  hastening  to 
carry  out,  all  the  outrages  of  war,  the  Legislature 
of  Virginia  resolved  that  President  Lincoln's  mild 
message  announced  a  policy  of  tyranny  and  "coercion;'"' 
and,  in  spite  of  the  gentlest  letter  of  explanation  ever 
written  by  any  ruler  who  was  not  a  coward,  the  state 
marched  out  of  the  Union  with  drums  beating  and 
flags  flying.  " Thenceforth,"  says  Holland,  "Virginia 


no  Life  of  AbraJiam  Lincoln. 

went  straight  towards  desolation.  Its  *  sacred  soil' 
was  from  that  hour  devoted  to  trenches,  fortifications, 
battle-fields,  military  roads,  camps,  and  graves."  She 
firmly  believed  that  all  the  fighting  would  be  done 
on  Northern  soil ;  but  in  another  year,  over  a  large 
part  of  her  territory,  which  had  been  covered  with 
fertile  farms  and  pleasant  villages,  there  were  roads 
five  miles  wide. 

At  this  time,  there  occurred  an  interesting  private 
incident  in  Lincoln's  life.  His  old  adversary,  Judge 
Douglas,  whom  he  warmly  respected  as  a  brave 
adversary,  had  passed  his  life  in  pandering  to  slavery, 
and,  as  regards  the  war,  had  been  the  political 
Mephistopheles  who  had  made  all  the  mischief.  But 
when  Sumter  was  fired  on,  all  that  was  good  and 
manly  in  his  nature  was  aroused,  and  he  gave  all 
his  support  to  his  old  enemy.  "  During  the  brief 
remainder  of  his  life,  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  his 
country  was  unwearied.  He  was  done  with  his 
dreams  of  power,"  but  he  could  yet  do  good.  He 
was  of  service  in  inducing  great  numbers  of  Demo 
crats,  who  still  remained  pro-slavery  men  in  principle, 
to  fight  for  the  Union. 

Four  years  to  an  hour  after  the  memorable  recon 
ciliation  between  Judge  Douglas  and  President 
Lincoln,  the  latter  was  killed  by  the  rebel  Booth. 
"Both  died,"  says  Holland,  "with  a  common  purpose 
— one  in  the  threatening  morning  of  the  rebellion, 


Progress  of  the  Rebellion.  in 

the  other  when  its  sun  had  just. set  in  blood;  and 
both  sleep  in  the  dust  of  that  magnificent  state, 
almost  every  rod  of  which,  within  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  had  echoed  to  their  contending  voices,  as 
they  expounded  their  principles  to  the  people." 

Judge  Douglas  had  warned  the  President,  in 
the  hour  of  their  reconciliation,  that,  instead  of 
calling  on  the  country  for  75,000  men,  he  should 
have  asked  for  200,000.  "  You  do  not  know  the 
dishonest  purposes  of  those  men  as  I  do,"  he  had 
impressively  remarked.  In  a  few  days,  it  was  evident 
that  the  rebellion  was  assuming  colossal  proportions, 
and  therefore  President  Lincoln,  on  May  3rd,  issued 
another  call  for  42,000  three-year  volunteers,  and 
ordered  the  addition  of  22,114  officers  and  men  to 
the  regular  army,  and  18,000  seamen  to  the  navy. 
This  demand  was  promptly  responded  to,  for  the 
draft  had  as  yet  no  terrors.  On  the  iSth  of  April, 
a  plot  had  been  discovered  by  which  the  secessionists 
in  Washington,  aided  by  Virginia,  hoped  to  fire  the 
city,  seize  the  President  and  Cabinet,  and  all  the 
machinery  of  government.  By  prompt  action,  this 
plan  was  crushed.  A  part  of  it  was  to  burn  the 
railway  bridges,  and  make  the  roads  impassable,  and 
this  was  successfully  executed.  Yet,  in  the  face  of 
this  audacious  attack,  the  Democratic  press  of  the 
North  and  the  rebeh  organs  of  the  South  continued 
to  storm  at  the  President  for  irritating  the  seces- 


ii2  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

sionists,  declaring  that  "coercion"  or  resistance  of 
the  Federal  Government  to  single  states  was  illegal. 

o  o 

But  at  this  time  several  events  occurred  which 
caused  great  anger  among  loyal  men  :  one  was 
the  loss  of  the  great  national  armoury  at  Harper's 
Ferry,  and  also  of  Gosport  Navy  Yard,  with 
2000  cannon  and  several  large  ships.  Owing  to 
treachery,  this  navy  yard,  with  about  10,000,000 
dollars'  worth  of  property,  was  lost.  Another  incident 
was  the  death  of  Colonel  Ellsworth.  This  young 
man,  who  had  been  a  law  student  under  Mr.  Lincoln, 
was  the  introducer  of  the  Zouave  drill.  For  many 
weeks,  a  rebel  tavern-keeper  in  Alexandria,  in  sight 
of  Washington,  had  insulted  the  Government  by 
keeping  a  secession  flag  flying.  On  the  24th  May, 
when  General  Mansfield  advanced  into  Virginia, 
Ellsworth  was  sent  with  13,000  troops  to  Alexandria. 
Here  his  first  act  was  to  pull  down  the  rebel  flag. 
On  descending,  Jackson  shot  him  dead,  and  was 
himself  promptly  shot  by  private  Brownell.  Two 
days  previous,  the  first  considerable  engagement  of 
the  war  had  occurred  at  Big  Bethel,  and  here  Major 
Winthrop,  a  young  Massachusetts  gentleman  of  great 
bravery  and  distinguished  literary  talent,  was  killed. 
The  grief  which  the  deaths  of  these  well-known 
young  men  excited  was  very  great.  They  were 
among  the  first  victims,  and  their  names  remain  to 
this  dav  fresh  in  the  minds  of  all  who  were  in  the 


Organisation  of  the  War.  113 

North  during  the  war.  The  funeral  of  Ellsworth 
took  place  from  the  White  House,  Mr.  Lincoln — who 
was  affected  with  peculiar  sorrow  by  his  death — being 
chief  mourner. 

During  this  month  the  war  was,  to  a  degree, 
organised.  As  soon  as  Washington  was  made  safe, 
Fortress  Monroe,  the  "water-gateway"  of  Virginia, 
was  reinforced.  Cairo,  Illinois,  commanding  the 
junction  of  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  rivers,  was 
occupied,  and  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  were 
efficiently  blockaded.  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Mary 
land,  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  a  part  of  Virginia, 
were  divided  into  three  military  departments,  and  on 
the  loth  May  another  was  formed,  including  the 
States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  under  charge 
of  General  Geo.  B.  M'Clellan.  The  object  of  this 
department  was  to  maintain  a  defensive  line  on  the 
Ohio  River  from  Wheeling  to  Cairo. 

In  the  month  of  July,  1861,  the  rebels,  commanded 
by  General  Beauregard,  threatened  Washington,  being 
placed  along  Bull  Run  Creek,  their  right  resting  on 
Manassas,  and  their  left,  under  General  Johnston,  on 
Winchester.  They  numbered  about  35,000.  It  was 
determined  to  attack  this  force,  and  drive  it  from 
the  vicinity  of  Washington.  Both  sides  intended  this 
to  be  a  great  decisive  battle,  and  it  was  generally 
believed  in  the  North  that  it  would  end  the  war. 
Government  had  been  supplied  with  men  and  money 


ii4  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

beyond  its  demands,  and  the  people,  encouraged  by 
Mr.  Seward's  opinion  that  the  war  would  last  only 
sixty  days,  were  as  impatient  now  to  end  the  rebellion 
by  force  as  they  had  been  previously  to  smother  it 
by  concessions.  There  were  few  who  predicted  as 
Charles  A.  Dana  did  to  the  writer,  on  the  day  that 
war  was  declared — that  it  would  last  "  not  less  than 
three,  nor  more  than  six  or  seven  years."  On 
the  i6th  July,  the  Federal  army,  commanded  by 
General  M'Dowell,  marched  forth,  and  the  attack, 
which  was  at  first  successful,  was  made  on  the  2ist. 
But  the  reinforcements  which  Johnston  received  saved 
him,  and  a  sudden  panic  sprung  up  among  the 
Federal  troops,  which  resulted  in  a  headlong  retreat, 
with  480  killed  and  1000  wounded.  The  army  was 
utterly  beaten,  and  it  was  only  the  Confederates' 
ignorance  of  the  extent  of  their  own  success  which 
saved  Washington.  It  was  the  darkest  day  ever 
witnessed  in  the  North,  when  the  telegraph  announced 
the  shameful  defeat  of  the  great  army  of  the  Union. 
Everyone  had  anticipated  a  brilliant  victory ;  but  yet 
the  news  discouraged  no  one.  The  writer  that  day 
observed  closely  the  behaviour  of  hundreds  of  men 
as  they  came  up  to  the  bulletin-board  of  the  New 
York  Times,  and  can  testify  that,  after  a  blank  look 
of  grief  and  amazement,  they  invariably  spoke  to  this 
effect,  "  It's  bad  luck,  but  we  must  try  it  again." 
The  effect,  in  the  words  of  Raymond,  was  to  rouse 


War  begins  in  Earnest.  115 

still  higher  the  courage  and  determination  of  the 
people.  In  twenty-four  hours,  the  whole  country  was 
again  fierce  and  fresh  for  war.  Volunteers  streamed 
by  thousands  into  the  army,  and  efforts  were  promptly 
made  to  establish  Union  forces  at  different  places 
around  the  rebel  coast.  This  was  the  beginning  of 
the  famous  Anaconda,  whose  folds  never  relaxed 
until  they  strangled  the  rebellion.  Between  the  28th 
August  and  the  3rd  of  December,  Fort  Hatteras, 
Port  Royal  in  South  Carolina,  and  Ship  Island,  near 
New  Orleans,  were  occupied.  Preparations  were 
made  to  seize  on  New  Orleans ;  and,  by  a  series  of 
masterly  movements,  West  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and 
Missouri,  which  had  been  in  a  painful  state  of  conflict, 
were  secured  to  the  Union.  Virginia  proper  had 
seceded  with  a  flourish  of  States  Rights.  Her  Western 
portion  recognised  the  doctrine  so  far  as  to  claim  its 
right  to  leave  the  mother-state  and  return  to  the 
Union.  This  was  not  done  without  vigorous  fighting 
by  Generals  Rosen c ran z  and  Morris,  to  whom  the 
credit  of  both  organising  and  acting  is  principally 
due,  although  General  M'Clellan,  by  a  clever  and 
Napoleonic  despatch,  announcing  victory,  attracted  to 
himself  the  chief  glory.  General  M'Clellan  had  pre 
viously,  in  Kentucky,  favoured  the  recognition  of  that 
state  as  neutral  territory,  as  the  rebels  wished  him  to 
do — an  attempt  which  Lincoln  declared  "would  be 
disunion  completed,  if  once  entertained."  On  the 


no  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

1st  Nov.,  1 86 1,  General  Scott,  who  had  hitherto 
commanded  the  armies  of  the  Union,  asked  for  and 
obtained  his  discharge,  and  was  succeeded  by  General 
M'Clellan.  "If,"  as  Holland  remarks, "he  had  done  but 
little  before  to  merit  this  confidence,  if  he  did  but  little 
afterwards  to  justify  it,  he  at  least  served  at  that  time 
to  give  faith  to  the  people."  For  three  months  he 
organised  and  supervised  his  troops  with  the  talent 
which  was  peculiar  to  him — that  of  preparing  great 
work  for  greater  minds  to  finish.  His  photograph 
was  in  every  album,  and  on  every  side  were  heard 
predictions  that  he  would  be  the  Napoleon,  the 
Caesar,  the  Autocrat  of  all  the  Americas.  The 
Western  Continent  would  be,  after  all,  the  greatest 
country  in  the  world,  and  the  greatest  man  in  it 
was  to  be  "  Little  Mac."  He  was  not  as  yet  known 
by  his  great  botanical  nom  de  guerre  of  the  Virginian 
Creeper. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

Relations  with  Europe — Foreign  Views  of  the  War — The  Slaves- -Pro 
clamation  of  Emancipation — Arrest  of  Rebel  Commissioners — Black 
Troops. 

WITH  so  much  to  call  for  his  care  in  the  field, 
President  Lincoln  was  not  less  busy  in  the 
Cabinet.  The  relations  of  the  Federal  Government 
with  Europe  were  of  great  importance.  "  The  rebels," 
says  Arnold,  with  truth,  "  had  a  positive,  vigorous 
organisation,  with  agents  all  over  Europe,  many  of 
them  in  the  diplomatic  service  of  the  United  States." 
They  were  well  selected,  and  they  were  successful  in 
creating  the  impression  that  the  Confederacy  was 
eminently  "a  gentleman's  government" — that  the 
Federal  represented  an  agrarian  mob  led  by  dema 
gogues — that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  vulgar,  ignorant 
boor — and  that  the  war  itself  was  simply  an  uncon 
stitutional  attempt  to  force  certain  states  to  remain 
under  a  tyrannical  and  repulsive  rule.  The  great 
fact  that  the  South  had,  in  the  most  public  manner, 
proclaimed  that  it  seceded  because  the  NortJi  would 
not  permit  the  furtlier  extension  of  'slavery,  was  utterly 
ignored  ;  and  the  active  interference  of  the  North 


n8  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

with  slavery  was  ostentatiously  urged  as  a  grievance, 
though,  by  a  strange  inconsistency,  it  was  deemed 
expedient  by  many  foreign  anti-slavery  men  to  with 
draw  all  sympathy  for  the  Federal  cause,  on  the 
ground  that  its  leaders  manifested  no  eagerness  to  set 
the  slaves  free  until  it  became  a  matter  of  military 
expediency.  Thus  the  humane  wisdom  and  modera 
tion,  which  inspired  Lincoln  and  the  true  men  of  the 
Union  to  overcome  the  dreadful  obstacles  which 
existed  in  the  opposition  of  the  Northern  democrats 
to  Emancipation,  was  most  sophistically  and  cruelly 
turned  against  them.  To  a  more  cynical  class,  the 
war  was  but  the  cleaning  by  fire  of  a  filthy  chimney 
which  should  have  been  burnt  out  long  before,  and 
its  Iliad  in  a  nutshell  amounted  to  a  squabble  which 
concerned  nobody  save  as  a  matter  for  amusement. 
And  there  were,  finally,  not  a  few — to  judge 
from  the  frank  avowal  of  a  journal  of  the 
highest  class — who  looked  forward  with  joy  to  the 
breaking  up  of  the  American  Union,  because  "their 
sympathies  were  with  men,  not  with  monsters,  and 
Russia  and  the  United  States  are  simply  giants 
among  nations."  All  this  bore,  in  due  time,  its 
natural  fruit.  Whether  people  were  to  blame  for 
this  want  of  sympathy,  considering  the  ingenuity 
with  which  Southern  agents  fulfilled  their  missions, 
is  another  matter.  Time,  which  is,  happily,  every 
day  modifying  old  feelings,  cannot  change  truths. 


Foreign  Recognition  of  the  Confederacy.   119 

And  it  cannot  be  denied  that  hostilities  had  hardly 
begun,  and  that  only  half  the  Slave  States  were  in 
insurrection,  when  the  English  and  French  Govern 
ments,  acting  in  concert,  recognised  the  government 
at  Montgomery  as  an  established  belligerent  power. 
As  to  this  recognition,  Mr.  Charles  F.  Adams,  the 
United  States  Minister  to  England,  was  instructed 
by  Mr.  Seward  to  the  effect  that  it,  if  carried  out, 
must  at  once  suspend  all  friendly  relations  between 
the  United  States  and  England.  When,  on  June 
1 5th,  the  English  and  French  ministers  applied  to 
Mr.  Seward  for  leave  to  communicate  to  him  their 
instructions,  directing  them  to  recognise  the  rebels 
as  belligerents,  he  declined  to  listen  to  them.  The 
United  States,  accordingly,  persisted  until  the  end 
in  regarding  the  rebellion  as  a  domestic  difficulty, 
and  one  with  which  foreign  governments  had  no 
right  to  interfere.  At  the  present  day,  it  appears 
most  remarkable  that  the  two  great  sources  of 
encouragement  held  out  to  the  rebels — of  help  from 
Northern  sympathisers,  and  the  hope  of  full  recogni 
tion  by  European  powers — proved  in  the  end  to  be 
allurements  which  led  them  on  to  ruin.  Had  it  not 
been  for  the  defeat  at  Bull  Run,  slavery  would 
perhaps  have  still  existed  ;  and  but  for  the  hope  of 
foreign  aid,  the  South  would  never  have  been  so 
utterly  conquered  and  thoroughly  exhausted  as  it 
was.  It  must,  however,  be  admitted  that  the  irritation 


120  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

of  the  Union-men  of  the  North  against  England  at 
this  crisis  was  carried  much  too  far,  since  they  did 
not  take  fully  into  consideration  the  very  large 
number  of  their  sincere  friends  in  Great  Britain  who 
earnestly  advocated  their  cause,  and  that  among  these 
were  actually  the  majority  of  the  journalists.  To 
those  who  did  not  understand  American  politics  in 
detail,  the  spectacle  of  about  one-third  of  the  popula 
tion,  even  though  backed  by  constitutional  law, 
opposing  the  majority,  seemed  to  call  fcr  little 
sympathy.  And  if  the  motto  of  Emancipation  for 
the  sake  of  the  white  man  offended  the  American 
Abolitionists,  who  were  unable  to  see  that  it  was  a 
ruse  de  guerre,  in  their  favour,  it  is  not  remarkable 
that  the  English  Abolitionists  should  have  been 
equally  obtuse. 

A  much  more  serious  trouble  than  that  of  European 
indifference  soon  arose  in  the  negrc  question.  There 
were  in  the  rebel  states  nearly  4,000,000  slaves.  In 
Mr.  Lincoln's  party,  the  Republican,  were  two  classes 
of  men — the  Abolitionists,  who  advocated  immediate 
enfranchisement  of  all  slaves  by  any  means  ;  and  the 
much  larger  number  of  men  who,  while  they  were 
opposed  to  the  extension  of  slavery,  and  would  have 
liked  to  see  it  legally  abolished,  still  remembered  that 
it  was  constitutional.  Slave  property  had  become 
such  a  sacred  thing,  and  had  been  legislated  about 
and  quarrelled  over  to  such  an  extent,  that,  even 


Fugitive  Slaves.  121 

among  slavery-haters,  it  was  a  proof  of  honest  citizen 
ship  to  recognise  it.  Thus,  for  a  long  time  after  the 
war  had  begun,  General  M'Clellan,  and  many  other 
officers  like  him,  made  it  a  point  of  returning  fugitive 
slaves  to  their  rebel  masters.  These  slaves  believed 
"the  Yankees"  had  -come  to  deliver  them  from 
bondage.  "  They  were  ready  to  act  as  guides,  to 
dig,  to  work,  to  fight  for  liberty,"  and  they  were 
welcomed,  on  coming  to  help  their  country  in  its 
need,  by  being  handed  back  to  the  enemy  to  be 
tortured  or  put  to  death.  So  great  were  the  atroci 
ties  perpetrated  in  this  way,  and  so  much  did  certain 
Federal  officers  disgrace  themselves  by  hunting 
negroes  and  truckling  to  the  enemy,  that  a  bill  was 
soon  passed  in  Congress,  declaring  it  was  no  part 
of  the  duty  of  the  soldiers  of  the  United  States  to 
capture  and  return  fugitive  slaves.  About  the  same 
time,  General  B.  F.  Butler,  of  the  Federal  forces, 
shrewdly  declared  that  slaves  were  legally  property, 
but  that,  as  they  were  employed  by  their  masters 
against  the  Government,  they  might  be  seized  as 
contraband  of  war,  which  was  accordingly  done  ;  nor 
is  it  recorded  that  any  of  the  slaves  who  were  by 
this  ingenious  application  of  law  confined  within  the 
limits  of  freedom  ever  found  any  fault  with  it.  From 
this  time,  during  the  war,  slaves  became  popularly 
known  as  contrabands. 

It  should  be  distinctly  understood  that  there  were 


122  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

now  literally  millions  of  staunch  Union  people,  who, 
while  recognising  the  evils  of  slavery,  would  not  be 
called  Abolitionists,  because  slavery  was  as  yet  legal, 
and  according  to  that  constitution  which  they 
properly  regarded  as  the  very  life  of  all  for  which 
were  fighting.  And  they  would  not,  for  the  sake 
of  removing  the  sufferings  of  the  blacks,  bring  greater 
misery  on  the  whites.  Badly  as  the  South  had 
behaved,  it  was  still  loved,  and  it  was  felt  that 
Abolition  would  bring  ruin  on  many  friends.  But 
as  the  war  went  on,  and  black  crape  began  to  appear 
on  Northern  bell-handles,  people  began  to  ask  one 
another  whether  it  was  worth  while  to  do  so  much 
to  uphold  slavery,  even  to  conciliate  the  wavering 
Border  States.  Step  by  step,  arguments  were  found 
for  the  willing  at  heart  but  unwilling  to  act.  On  the 
1st  January,  1862,  the  writer  established  in  Boston  a 
political  magazine,  called  "The  Continental  Monthly," 
the  entire  object  of  which  was  expressed  in  the 
phrase,  Emancipation  for  the  sake  of  the  white  man, 
and  which  was  published  solely  for  the  sake  of  pre 
paring  the  public  mind  for,  and  aiding  in,  Mr. 
Lincoln's  peculiar  policy  with  regard  to  slavery.  As 
the  writer  received  encouragement  and  direction  from 
the  President  and  more  than  one  member  of  the 
Cabinet,  but  especially  from  Mr.  Seward,  he  feels 
authorised,  after  the  lapse  of  so  many  years,  to  speak 
freely  on  the  subject.  He  had  already,  for  several 


Progress  of  Emancipation.  123 

months,  urged  the  same  principles  in  another  and 
older  publication  (the  New  York  "  Knickerbocker"). 
The  "Continental"  was  quite  as  bitterly  attacked  by 
the  anti-slavery  press  as  by  the  pro-slavery;  but  it 
effected  its  purpose  of  aiding  President  Lincoln, and  the 
editor  soon  had  the  pleasure  of  realising  that  many 
thousands  were  willing  to  be  called  Emancipationists 
who  shrunk  from  being  classed  as  Abolitionists. 

In  this  great  matter,  the  President  moved  with  a 
caution  which  cannot  be  too  highly  commended. 
He  felt  and  knew  that  the  emancipation  of  the 
slaves  was  a  great  and  glorious  thing,  not  to  be 
frittered  away  by  the  action  of  this  or  that  sub 
ordinate,  leaving  details  of  its  existence  in  every 
direction  to  call  for  infinite  legislation.  It  is  true 
that  for  a  time  he  temporised  with  "  colonisation  ;" 
and  Congress  passed  a  resolution  that  the  United 
States  ought  to  co-operate  with  any  state  which 
might  adopt  a  gradual  emancipation  of  slavery, 
placing  600,000  dollars  at  the  disposition  of  the 
President  for  an  experiment  at  colonisation.  Some 
money  was  indeed  spent  in  attempts  to  colonise 
slaves  in  Hayti,  when  the  project  was  abandoned. 
But  this  was  really  delaying  to  achieve  a  definite 
purpose.  On  August  22nd,  1862,  in  reply  to  Horace 
Greeley,  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  : — 

"  My  paramount  object  is  to  save  the  Union,  and  not  to 
either  save  or  destroy  slavery.  If  I  could  save  the  Union 


124  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln^ 

without  freeing  any  slave,  I  would  do  it ;  if  I  could  save  it 
by  freeing  all  the  slaves,  I  would  do  it ;  and  if  I  could  do  it 
by  freeing  some  and  leaving  others  alone,  I  wou'd  also  do 
that.  ...  I  have  here  stated  my  purpose  according  to  my 
views  of  official  duty,  and  I  intend  no  modification  of  my  oft' 
expressed  personal  wish,  that  all  men  everywhere  could  be  fret" 

He  had,  meanwhile,  his  troubles  with  the  army. 
On  May  Qth,  1862,  General  Hunter  issued  an  order, 
declaring  the  slaves  in  Georgia,  Florida,  and  South 
Carolina  to  be  for  ever  free ;  which  was  promptly  and 
properly  repudiated  by  the  President,  who  was  at  the 
time  urging  on  Congress  and  the  Border  States  a 
policy  of  gradual  emancipation,  with  compensation 
to  loyal  masters.  General  Hunter's  attempt  at 
such  a  crisis  to  take  the  matter  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  President,  was  a  piece  of  presumption  which 
deserved  severer  rebuke  than- he  received  in  the  firm 
yet  mild  proclamation  in  which  Lincoln,  uttering  no 
reproof,  said  to  the  General — quoting  from  his 
Message  to  Congress — 

"I  beg  of  you  a  calm  and  enlarged  consideration  of  the 
signs  of  the  times,  ranging,  if  it  may  be,  far  above  partisan 
and  personal  politics. 

"This  proposal  makes  common  cause  for  a  common 
object,  casting  no  reproaches  upon  any.  It  acts  not  the 
Pharisee.  The  change  it  contemplates  would  come  gently 
as  the  dews  of  heaven,  not  rending  or  wrecking  anything. 
Will  you  not  embrace  it?" 

General  J.  C.  Fremont,  commanding  the  Western 


The  Proclamation  of  Emancipation.       125 

Department,  which  comprised  Missouri  and  a  part 
of  Kentucky,  had  also  issued  an  unauthorised  order 
(August  3 1st,  1861),  proclaiming  martial  law  in  Mis 
souri,  and  setting  the  slaves,  if  rebels,  free ;  which 
error  the  President  at  once  corrected.  This  was 
taken  off  by  a  popular  caricature,  in  which  slavery 
was  represented  as  a  blackbird  in  a  cage,  and  General 
Fremont  as  a  small  boy  trying  to  let  him  out,  while 
Lincoln,  as  a  larger  boy,  was  saying,  "  That's  my  bird 
— let  him  alone."  To  which  General  Fremont 
replying,  "  But  you  said  you  wanted  him  to  be  set 
free,"  the  President  answers,  "  I  know  ;  but  I'm  going 
to  let  him  out — not  you." 

To  a  deputation  from  all  the  religious  denomina 
tions  in  Chicago,  urging  immediate  emancipation, 
the  President  replied,  setting  forth  the  present  inex 
pediency  of  such  a  measure.  But,  meanwhile,  he 
prepared  a  declaration  that,  on  January  ist,  1863, 
the  slaves  in  all  states,  or  parts  of  states,  which 
should  then  be  in  rebellion,  would  be  proclaimed  free. 
By  the  advice  of  Mr.  Seward,  this  was  withheld  until 
it  could  follow  a  Federal  victory,  instead  of  seeming 
to  be  a  measure  of  mere  desperation.  Accordingly, 
it  was  put  forth — September  22nd,  1862 — five  days 
after  the  battle  of  Antietam  had  defeated  Lee's  first 
attempt  at  invading  the  North,  and  the  promised 
proclamation  was  published  on  the  ist  January  fol 
lowing.  The  text  of  this  document  was  as  follows :— * 


126  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

BY  THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA. 
&  ^Proclamation. 

Whereas,  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  September,  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-two,  a  pro 
clamation  was  issued  by  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
containing,  among  other  things,  the  following,  to  wit : — 

That,  on  the  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  all 
persons  held  as  slaves  within  any  state,  or  designated  part 
of  a  state,  the  people  whereof  shall  then  be  in  rebellion 
against  the  United  States,  shall  be  then,  thenceforward  and 
lor  ever,  free;  and  the  Executive  Government  of  the  United 
States,  including  the  naval  and  military  authority  thereof,  will 
recognise  and  maintain  the  freedom  of  such  persons,  and  will 
do  no  act  or  acts  to  repress  such  persons,  or  any  of  them, 
in  any  efforts  they  may  make  for  their  actual  freedom. 

That  the  Executive  will,  on  the  first  day  of  January 
aforesaid,  by  proclamation,  designate  the  states  and  parts 
of  states,  if  any,  in  which  the  people  thereof,  respectively, 
shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States;  and 
the  fact  that  any  state,  or  the  people  thereof,  shall  on  that 
day  be  in  good  faith  represented  in  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  by  members  chosen  thereto  at  elections 
wherein  a  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of  such  state  shall 
have  participated,  shall,  in  the  absence  of  strong  counter 
vailing  testimony,  be  deemed  conclusive  evidence  that  such 
state,  and  the  people  thereof,  are  not  then  in  rebellion 
against  the  United  States. 

Now  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the 
United  States,  by  virtue  of  the  power  in  me  vested  as 
commander- in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United 


The  Proclamation.  127 

States,  in  time  of  actual  armed  rebellion  against  the  authority 
and  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  as  a  fit  and 
necessary  war-measure  for  suppressing  said  rebellion,  do, 
on  this  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  and  in  accordance 
with  my  purpose  so  to  do,  publicly  proclaimed  for  the  full 
period  of  one  hundred  days  from  the  day  first  above- 
mentioned,  order  and  designate  as  the  states  and  parts  of 
states  wherein  the  people  thereof,  respectively,  are  this  day 
in  rebellion  against  the  United  States,  the  following,  to  wit — 
ARKANSAS,  TEXAS,  LOUISIANA  (except  the  parishes  of  St. 
Bernard,  Plaquemines,  Jefferson,  St.  John,  St.  Charles,  St. 
James,  Ascension,  Assumption,  Terre  Bonne,  Lafourche, 
St.  Mary,  St.  Martin,  and  Orleans,  including  the  City  of 
New  Orleans),  MISSISSIPPI,  ALABAMA,  FLORIDA,  GEORGIA, 
SOUTH  CAROLINA,  NORTH  CAROLINA,  and  VIRGINIA  (except 
the  forty-eight  counties  designated  as  West  Virginia,  and 
also  the  counties  of  Berkeley,  Accomac,  Northampton,  Eliza 
beth  City,  York,  Princess  Ann,  and  Norfolk,  including  the 
cities  of  Norfolk  and  Portsmouth),  and  which  excepted 
parts  are  left  for  the  present  precisely  as  if  this  proclamation 
were  not  issued. 

And  by  virtue  of  the  power,  and  for  the  purpose  afore 
said,  I  do  order  and  declare  that  all  persons  held  as  slaves 
within  said  designated  states  and  parts  of  states  are,  and 
henceforward  shall  be,  free ;  and  that  the  Executive  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States,  including  the  military  and  naval 
authorities  thereof,  will  recognise  and  maintain  the  freedom 
of  said  persons. 

And  I  hereby  enjoin  upon  the  people  so  declared  to  be 
free,  to  abstain  from  all  violence,  unless  in  necessary  self- 


128  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

defence ;  and  I  recommend  to  them  that,  in  all  cases  where 
allowed,  they  labour  faithfully  for  reasonable  wages. 

And  I  further  declare  and  make  known  that  such  persons, 
of  suitable  condition,  will  be  received  into  the  armed 
service  of  the  United  States,  to  garrison  forts,  positions, 
stations,  and  other  places,  and  to  man  vessels  of  all  sorts 
in  said  service. 

And  upon  this  act,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an  act  of 
justice  warranted  by  the  Constitution  upon  military  neces 
sity,  I  invoke  the  considerate  judgment  of  mankind  and  the 
gracious  favour  of  Almighty  God. 

In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand,  and 
caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  CITY   OF  WASHINGTON  this 
first   day  of  January,   in   the  year  of  our 
L.  S.  Lord    one   thousand   eight   hundred    and 

sixty-three,  and  of  the  Independence  of 
the  United  States  of  America  the  eighty. 
seventh, 

By  the  President, 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD,  Secretary  of  State. 
A  true  copy,  with  the  autograph  signatures  of  the  Pre 
sident  and  the  Secretary  of  State. 

JOHN  G.  NICOLAY, 
Priv.  Sec.  to  the  /'resident. 

The  excitement  caused  by  the  appearance  of  the 
proclamation  of  September  22nd,  1862,  was  very 
great.  The  anti-slavery  men  rejoiced  as  at  the  end 
of  a  dreadful  struggle ;  those  who  had  doubted 
became  at  once  strong  and  confident.  Whatever 


Reception  of  the  Proclamation.  129 

trials  and  troubles  might  be  in  store,  all  felt  assured, 
even  the  Copperheads  or  rebel  sympathisers,  that 
slavery  was  virtually  at  an  end.  The  newspapers 
teemed  with  gratulations.  The  following  poem,  which 
was  the  first  written  on  the  proclamation,  or  on  the 
day  on  which  it  appeared,  and  which  was  afterwards 
published  in  the  "  Continental  Magazine,"  expresses 
the  feeling  with  which  it  was  generally  received. 

THE   PROCLAMATION.— SEPT.  22,  1862. 

Now  who  has  done  the  greatest  deed 

Which  History  has  ever  known  ? 
And  who  in  Freedom's  direst  need 

Became  her  bravest  champion  ? 
Who  a  whole  continent  set  free? 

Who  killed  the  curse  and  broke  the  ban 
Which  made  a  lie  of  liberty? — 

You,  Father  Abraham — you're  the  man! 

The  deed  is  done.     Millions  have  yearned 

To  see  the  spear  of  Freedom  cast. 
The  dragon  roared  and  writhed  and  burned : 

You've  smote  him  full  and  square  at  last. 
O  Great  and  True!  you  do  not  know — 

You  cannot  tell — you  cannot  feel 
How  far  through  time  your  name  must  go, 
Honoured  by  all  men,  high  or  low, 

Wherever  Freedom's  votaries  kneel. 

This  wide  world  talks  in  many  a  tongue— 
This  world  boasts  many  a  noble  state; 

In  all  your  praises  will  be  sung — 
In  all  the  great  will  call  you  great 


130  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Freedom !  where'er  that  word  is  known — 

On  silent  shore,  by  sounding  sea, 
'Mid  millions,  or  in  deserts  lone — • 

Your  noble  name  shall  ever  be. 

The  word  is  out,  the  deed  is  done, 

The  spear  is  cast,  dread  no  delay; 
When  such  a  steed  is  fairly  gone, 

Fate  never  fails  to  find  a  way. 
Hurrah  !  hurrah  !  the  track  is  clear, 

We  know  your  policy  and  plan ; 
We'll  stand  by  you  through  every  year; 

Now,  Father  Abraham,  you're  our  man. 

The  original  draft  of  the  proclamation  of  Emanci 
pation  was  purchased  by  Thos.  B.  Bryan,  of  Chicago, 
for  the  Sanitary  Commission  for  the  Army,  held  at 
Chicago  in  the  autumn  of  1863.  As  it  occurred  to 
the  writer  that  official  duplicates  of  such  an  important 
document  should  exist,  he  suggested  the  idea  to 
Mr.  George  H.  Boker,  subsequently  United  States 
Minister  to  Constantinople  and  to  St.  Petersburg,  at 
whose  request  the  President  signed  a  number  of 
copies,  some  of  which  were  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Sanitary  Fairs  held  in  Philadelphia  and  Boston  in 
1864,  while  others  were  presented  to  public  institu 
tions.  One  of  these,  bearing  the  signatures  of 
President  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Seward,  with  the  attesting 
signature  of  John  Nicolay,  Private  Secretary  to  the 
President,  may  be  seen  hanging  in  the  George  the 
Third  Library  in  the  British  Museum.  This  document 


Arrest  of  Rebel  Agents.  131 

is  termed  by  Mr.  Carpenter,  in  his  history  of  the 
proclamation,  "  the  third  great  State  paper  which  has 
marked  the  progress  of  Anglo-Saxon  civilisation. 
First  is  the  Magna  Charta,  wrested  by  the  barons  of 
England  from  King  John  ;  second,  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  ;  and  third,  worthy  to  be  placed  upon 
the  tablets  of  history  by  the  first  two,  Abraham 
Lincoln's  Proclamation  of  Emancipation." 

On  the  ^th  November,  Messrs.  J.  M.  Mason  and 
John  Slidell,  Confederate  Commissioners  to  England 
and  France,  were  taken  from  the  British  mail  steamer 
Trent  by  Commodore  Wilkes,  of  the  American  frigate 
San  Jacinto.  There  was  great  rejoicing  over  this 
capture  in  America,  and  as  great  public  irritation 
in  England.  War  seemed  imminent  between  the 
countries;  but  Mr.  Lincoln,  with  characteristic 
sagacity,  determined  that  so  long  as  there  was  no 
recognition  of  the  rebels  as  a  nation,  not  to  bring 
on  a  war.  "  One  war  at  a  time,"  he  said.  In  a 
masterly  examination  of  the  case,  Mr.  Seward  pointed 
out  the  fact  that  "  the  detention  of  the  vessel,  and 
the  removal  from  her  of  the  emissaries  of  the  rebel 
Confederacy,  was  justifiable  by  the  laws  of  war,  and 
the  practice  and  precedents  of  the  British  Govern 
ment  itself;  but  that,  in  assuming  to  decide  upon 
the  liability  of  these  persons  to  capture,  instead  of 
sending  them  before  a  legal  tribunal,  where  a  regular 
trial  could  be  had,  Captain  Wilkes  had  departed 


132  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln* 

from  the  rule  of  international  law  uniformly  asserted 
by  the  American  Government,  and  forming  part  of 
its  most  cherished  policy."  The  Government,  there 
fore,  cheerfully  complied  with  the  request  of  the 
British  Government,  and  liberated  the  prisoners.  No 
person  at  all  familiar  with  American  law  or  policy 
could  doubt  for  an  instant  that  this  decision  expressed 
the  truth  ;  but  the  adherents  of  the  Confederacy,  with 
their  sympathisers,  everywhere  united  in  ridiculing 
President  Lincoln  for  cowardice.  Yet  it  would  be 
difficult  to  find  an  instance  of  greater  moral  courage 
and  simple  dignity,  combined  with  the  exact  fulfil 
ment  of  what  he  thought  was  "just  right,"  than 
Lincoln  displayed  on  this  occasion.  The  wild  spirit 
of  war  was  by  this  time  set  loose  in  the  North,  and 
it  was  felt  that  foreign  enemies,  though  they  might 
inflict  temporary  injury,  would  soon  awake  a  principle 
of  union  and  of  resistance  which  would  rather  benefit 
than  injure  the  country.  In  fact,  this  new  difficulty 
was  anything  but  intimidating,  and  the  position  of 
President  Lincoln  was  for  a  time  most  embarrassing. 
But  he  could  be  bold  enough,  and  sail  closely  enough 
to  the  law  when  justice  demanded  it.  In  September, 
1861,  the  rebels  in  Maryland  came  near  obtaining 
the  passage  of  an  act  of  secession  in  the  Legislature 
of  that  state.  General  M'Clellan  was  promptly 
ordered  to  prevent  this  by  the  arrest  of  the  treason 
able  legislators,  which  was  done,  and  the  state  was 


Maryland  Black   Troops.  133 

saved  from  a  civil  war.  Of  course  there  was  an 
outcry  at  this,  as  arbitrary  and  unconstitutional. 
But  Governor  Hicks  said  of  it,  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  "  I  believe  that  arrests,  and  arrests 
alone,  saved  the  State  of  Maryland  from  destruction." 
When  Mr.  Lincoln  had  signed  the  Proclamation 
of  Emancipation,  he  said,  "  Now  we  have  got  the 
harpoon  fairly  into  the  monster  slavery,  we  must  take 
care  that,  in  his  extremity,  he  does  not  shipwreck 
the  country."  But  the  monster  only  roared.  The 
rebel  Congress  passed  a  decree,  offering  freedom  and 
reward  to  any  slave  who  would  kill  a  Federal  soldier ; 
but  it  is  believed  that  none  availed  themselves  of  this 
chivalric  offer.  On  the  contrary,  ere  long  there  were 
brought  into  the  service  of  the  United  States  nearly 
200,000  black  troops,  among  whom  the  loss  by  all 
causes  was  fully  one-third — a  conclusive  proof  of  their 
bravery  and  efficiency.  Though  the  Confederates 
knew  that  their  fathers  had  fought  side  by  side  with 
black  men  in  the  Revolution  and  at  New  Orleans, 
and  though  they  themselves  raised  negro  regiments 
in  Louisiana,  and  employed  them  against  the  Federal 
Government,  they  were  furious  that  such  soldiers 
should  be  used  against  themselves,  and  therefore  in 
the  most  inhuman  manner  put  to  death,  or  sold  into 
slavery,  every  coloured  man  captured  in  Federal 
uniform. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Eighteen  Hundred  and  Sixty-two — The  Plan  of  the  War,  and  Strength  of 
the  Armies — General  M'Clellan — The  General  Movement,  January  ayth, 
1862— The  brilliant  Western  Campaign— Removal  of  M'Clellan— The 
Monitor — Battle  of  Fredencksburg — Valland;gham  and  Seymour — The 
Alabama — President  Lincoln  declines  all  Foreign  Mediation. 

THE  year  1 86 1  had  been  devoted  rather  to  pre 
paration  for  war  than  to  war  itself;  for  every 
day  brought  home  to  the  North  the  certainty  that 
the  struggle  would  be  tremendous — that  large  armies 
must  fight  over  thousands  of  miles — and  that  to 
conquer,  men  must  go  forth  not  by  thousands, 
but  by  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  endure  such 
privations,  such  extremes  of  climate,  as  are  little 
known  in  European  warfare.  But  by  the  1st  Dec, 
1861,  640,000  had  been  enrolled.  The  leading 
features  of  the  plan  of  war  were  an  entire  blockade 
of  the  rebel  coast,  the  military  control  of  the  border 
Slave  States,  the  recovery  of  the  Mississippi  river, 
which  is  the  key  of  the  continent,  and,  finally,  the 
destruction  of  the  rebel  army  in  Virginia,  which 
continually  threatened  the  North,  and  the  conquest 
of  Richmond,  the  rebel  capital.  General  M'Clellan 
had  in  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  which  occupied 
Washington  and  adjacent  places,  more  than  200,000 


General  M'Clellan.  135 

men,  well  armed  and  disciplined.  In  Kentucky, 
General  Buell  had  over  100,000.  The  rebel  force 
opposed  to  General  M'Clellan  was  estimated  at 
175,000,  but  is  now  known  to  have  been  much  less. 
General  M'Clellan  made  little  use  of  the  spy-service, 
and  apparently  cared  very  little  to  know  what  was 
going  on  in  the  enemy's  camp — an  indifference  which 
before  long  led  him  into  several  extraordinary  and 
ridiculous  blunders.  As  Commander-in-Chief,  General 
M'Clellan  had  control  over  Halleck,  Commander  of 
the  Department  of  the  West,  while  General  Burnside 
commanded  in  North  Carolina,  and  Sherman  in 
South  Carolina. 

But  though  General  M'Clellan  had,  as  he  himself 
said,  a  "real  army,  magnificent  in  material,  admirable 
in  discipline,  excellently  equipped  and  armed,  and 
well  officered,"  and  though  his  forces  were  double 
those  of  the  enemy,  he  seemed  to  be  possessed  by 
a  strange  apathy,  which,  at  the  time,  was  at  first 
taken  for  prudence,  but  which  is  perhaps  now  to  be 
more  truthfully  explained  by  the  fact  that  this  former 
friend  of  Jefferson  Davis,  and  ardent  admirer  of 
Southern  institutions,  was  at  heart  little  inclined  to 
inflict  great  injury  on  the  enemy,  and  was  looking 
forward  to  playing  the  role  which  has  led  so  many 
American  politicians  to  their  ruin — of  being  the 
great  conciliator  between  the  North  and  South. 
Through  the  autumn  and  winter  of  1861-62,  he  did 


136  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

literally  nothing  beyond  writing  letters  to  the  Pre 
sident,  in  which  he  gave  suggestions  as  to  the  manner 
in  which  the  country  should  be  governed,  and  asked  . 
for  more  troops.  All  the  pomp  and  style  of  a 
grand  generalissimo  were  carefully  observed  by  him ; 
his  personal  camp  equipage  required  twenty-four 
horses  to  draw  it — a  marvellous  contrast  to  the 
rough  and  ready  General  Grant,  who  started  on  his 
vigorous  campaign  against  Vicksburg  with  only  a 
clean  shirt  and  a  tooth-brush.  Before  long,  notwith 
standing  the  very  remarkable  personal  popularity  of 
General  M'Clellan,  the  country  began  to  murmur 
at  his  slowness ;  and  while  the  President  was  urging 
and  imploring  him  to  do  something,  the  malcontents 
through  the  North  began  to  blame  the  Administra 
tion  for  these  delays.  It  was  said  to  be  doing  all  in 
its  power  to  crush  M'Clellan,  to  keep  him  from 
advancing,  and  to  protract  the  war  for  its  own 
political  purposes. 

Weary  with  the  delay,  President  Lincoln  (January 
2/th,  1862)  issued  a  war  order,  to  the  effect  that,  on 
the  22nd  February,  1862,  there  should  be  a  general 
movement  of  all  the  land  and  naval  forces  against 
the  enemy,  and  that  all  commanders  should  be  held 
to  strict  responsibility  for  the  execution  of  this  duty. 
In  every  quarter,  save  that  of  the  army  of  the  Potomac, 
this  was  at  once  productive  of  energetic  movements, 
hard  fighting,  and  splendid  Union  victories.  On  the 


Union  Victories  in  the  West.          137 

6th  November,  General  U.  S.  Grant  had  already 
taken  Belmont,  which  was  the  first  step  in  his  military 
career,  and  on  January  loth,  Colonel  Garfield  defeated 
Humphrey  Marshall  at  Middle  Creek,  Kentucky, 
while  on  January  iQth,  General  G.  H.  Thomas  gained 
a  victory  at  Mill  Spring  over  the  rebel  General  Zolli- 
koffer.  The  rebel  positions  in  Tennessee  and  Ken 
tucky  were  protected  by  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson. 
In  concert  with  General  Grant,  Commodore  Foote 
took  Fort  Henry,  while  General  Grant  attacked  Fort 
Donelson.  After  several  days'  fighting,  General 
Buckner,  in  command,  demanded  of  General  Grant 
an  armistice,  in  which  to  settle  terms  of  surrender. 
To  this  General  Grant  replied,  "  No  terms  except 
unconditional  and  immediate  surrender  can  be 
accepted.  I  propose  to  move  immediately  on  your 
works."  General  Buckner,  with  15,000  men,  at 
once  yielded.  From  this  note,  General  U.  S.  Grant 
obtained  the  name  of  "  Unconditional  Surrender 
Grant."  These  successes  obliged  the  rebels  to  leave 
Kentucky,  and  Tennessee  was  thus  accessible  to  the 
Federal  forces.  On  the  I5th  February,  General 
Mitchell,  of  General  Buell's  army,  reached  Bowling 
Green,  executing  a  march  of  forty  miles  in  twenty- 
eight  hours  and  a-half,  performing,  meanwhile,  incred 
ible  feats  in  scaling  a  frozen  steep  pathway,  a  position 
of  great  strength,  and  in  bridging  a  river.  On  the 
24th  February,  the  Union  troops  seized  on  Nashville, 


138  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 

and  on  February  8th,  Roanoke  Island,  North  Caro 
lina,  with  all  its  defences,  was  captured  by  General 
Burnside  and  Admiral  Goldsborougii.  In  March 
and  April,  Newbern,  Fort  Pulaski,  and  Fort  Mason 
were  taken  from  the  rebels.  On  the  6th,  /th,  and 
8th  of  March  was  fought  the  great  battle  of  Pea 
Ridge,  in  Arkansas,  by  Generals  Curtis  and  Sigel, 
who  had  drawn  General  Price  thither  from  Missouri. 
In  this  terrible  and  hard-contested  battle  the  Con 
federates  employed  a  large  body  of  Indians,  who, 
however,  not  only  scalped  and  shamefully  mutilated 
Federal  troops,  but  also  the  rebels  themselves.  On 
the  /th  April,  General  Pope  took  the  strong  position, 
Island  No.  10,  in  the  Mississippi,  capturing  with  it 
5000  prisoners  and  over  100  heavy  siege  guns.  These 
great  and  rapid  victories  startled  the  rebels,  who  had 
been  taught  that  the  Northern  foe  was  beneath 
contempt.  They  saw  that  Grant  and  Buell  were 
rapidly  gaining  the  entire  south-west.  They  gathered 
together  as  large  an  army  as  possible,  under  General 
Albert  S.  Johnson  and  Beauregard,  and  the  opposing 
forces  fought,  April  6th,  the  battle  of  Shiloh.  Beau- 
regard,  with  great  sagacity,  attacked  General  Grant 
with  overwhelming  force  before  Buell  could  come  up. 
"The  first  day  of  the  battle  was  in  favour  of  the 
rebels,  but  night  brought  Buell,  and  the  morrow 
victory,  to  the  Union  army."  The  shattered  rebel 
army  retreated  into  their  strong  works  at  Corinth, 


Capture  of  Corinth.  139 

but  "leaving  the  victors  almost  as  badly  punished 
as  themselves."  General  Halleck  now  assumed  com 
mand  of  the  Western  army,  succeeding  General 
Hunter.  On  the  3Oth  May,  Halleck  took  Corinth, 
capturing  immense  quantities  of  stores  and  a  line 
of  fortifications  fifteen  miles  long,  but  was  so  dilatory 
in  his  attack  that  General  Beauregard  escaped,  and 
transferred  his  army  to  aid  the  rebels  in  the  East. 
For  these  magnificent  victories,  President  Lincoln 
p/blished  a  thanksgiving  proclamation. 

But  while  these  fierce  battles  and  great  victories 
went  on  in  the  West,  and  commanders  and  men 
became  alike  inured  to  hardship  and  hard  fighting, 
the  splendid  army  of  the  Potomac  had  done  nothing 
beyond  digging  endless  and  useless  trenches,  in  which 
thousands  found  their  graves.  The  tangled  and 
wearisome  correspondence  which  for  months  passed 
between  President  Lincoln  and  General  M'Clellan 
is  one  of  the  most  painful  episodes  of  the  war.  The 
President  urged  action.  General  M'Clellan  answered 
with  excuses  for  inaction,  with  many  calls  for  more 
men,  and  with  repartees.  At  one  time,  when 
clamorous  for  more  troops,  he  admitted  that  he  had 
over  38,000  men  absent  on  furlough — which  accounted 
for  his  personal  popularity  with  his  soldiers.  "  He 
wrote  more  despatches,  and  General  Grant  fewer, 
than  any  General  of  the  war."  Meanwhile,  he  was 
building  up  a  political  party  for  himself  in  the  army, 


140  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

and  among  the  Northern  malcontents,  who  thought 
it  wrong  to  coerce  the  South.  When  positively 
ordered  to  march,  or  to  seize  different  points,  he 
replied  with  protests  and  plans  of  his  own.  After 
the  battle  of  Antietam,  September  i6th,  1862,  Pre 
sident  Lincoln  again  urged  M'Clellan  to  follow  the 
retreating  Confederates,  and  advance  on  Richmond. 
"A  most  extraordinary  correspondence  ensued,  in 
which  the  President  set  forth  with  great  clearness 
the  conditions  of  the  military  problem,  and  the 
advantages  that  would  attend  a  prompt  movement 
by  interior  lines  towards  the  rebel  capital."  In  this 
correspondence,  Lincoln  displays  not  only  the  greatest 
patience  under  the  most  tormenting  contradictions, 
but  also  shows  a  military  genius  and  a  clear 
intelligence  of  what  should  be  done  which  indicate 
the  greatness  and  versatility  of  his  mind.  He 
was,  to  the  very  last,  kind  to  M'Clellan,  and  never 
seems  to  have  suspected  that  the  General  "  whose* 
inactivity  was  to  some  extent  attributable  to  an 
indisposition  to  inflict  great  injury  upon  the  rebels," 
was  scheming  to  succeed  him  in  his  office,  and 
intriguing  with  rebel  sympathisers.  When  at  last 
the  country  would  no  longer  endure  the  ever-writing, 
never-fighting  General,  he  removed  him  from  com 
mand  (November  /th,  1862),  and  appointed  General 
Burnside  in  his  place.  "This  whole  campaign,"  says 
Arnold,  "  illustrates  Lincoln's  patience,  forbearance, 


M'CUllari—Tke  "Monitor"      .     141 

fidelity  to,  and  kindness  for,  M'Clellan.  His  mis 
fortunes,  disastrous  as  they  were  to  the  country,  did 
not  induce  the  President  to  abandon  him.  Indeed, 
it  was  a  very  difficult  and  painful  thing  for  him  ever 
to  give  up  a  person  in  misfortune,  even  when  those 
misfortunes  resulted  from  a  man's  own  misconduct." 
But  though  he  spoke  kindly  of  General  M'Clellan, 
Mr.  Lincoln  could  not  refrain  from  gently  satirising 
the  dilatory  commander.  Once  he  remarked  that 
he  would  "  very  much  like  to  borrow  the  army  any 
day  when  General  M'Clellan  did  not  happen  to  be 
using  it,  to  see  if  he  could  not  do  something  with  it." 

On  the  9th  March,  an  incident  occurred  which 
forms  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  naval  warfare. 
The  rebels  had  taken  possession  of  the  steam  frigate 
Merrimac  at  Norfolk,  and  covered  her  with  iron 
armour.  Sailing  down  the  James  river,  she  destroyed 
the  frigates  Cumberland  and  Congress,  and  was  about 
to  attack  the  Minnesota,  when,  by  strange  chance, 
"  there  came  up  the  bay  a  low,  turtle-like  nondescript 
object,  bearing  two  heavy  guns,  with  which  she 
attacked  the  Merrimac  and  saved  the  fleet."  This 
was  the  Monitor,  built  by  the  celebrated  engineer 
Ericsson. 

There  were  many  in  the  South,  during  the  war,  who 
schemed,  or  at  least  talked  over,  the  assassination  of 
President  Lincoln.  On  one  occasion,  when  he  learned 
from  a  newspaper  that  a  conspiracy  of  several  hundred 


142  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

men  was  forming  in  Richmond  for  the  purpose  of  tak 
ing  his  life,  he  smiled  and  said,  "  Even  if  true,  I  do  not 
see  what  the  rebels  would  gain  by  killing  me.  .  .  . 
Everything  would  go  on  just  the  same.  Soon  after 
I  was  nominated,  I  began  to  receive  letters  threaten 
ing  my  life.  The  first  one  or  two  made  me  a  little 
uncomfortable,  but  I  came  at  length  to  look  for  a 
regular  instalment  of  this  kind  of  correspondence  in 
every  week's  mail.  Oh  1  there  is  nothing  like  getting 
tised  to  things." 

General  Burnside,  who  accepted  with  reluctance 
the  command  of  the  army  (November  8th,  1862), 
was  a  manly  and  honourable  soldier,  but  not  more 
fortunate  than  his  predecessor.  Owing  to  a  want  of 
proper  understanding  and  action  between  himself 
and  Generals  Halleck,  Meigs,  and  Franklin,  the  battle 
of  Fredericksburg,  begun  on  the  nth  December,  1862, 
was  finally  fought  on  the  I5th  January,  the  Union 
army  being  defeated  with  a  loss  of  12,000  men.  The 
spirit  of  insubordination,  of  delay,  and  of  ill-fortune 
which  attended  M'Clellan,  seemed  to  have  descended 
as  a  heritage  on  the  army  of  the  Potomac. 

On  May  3rd,  1861,  President  Lincoln  had,  in  an 
order  addressed  to  the  Commander  of  the  Forces  on 
the  Florida  coast,  suspended  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus. 
The  right  to  do  so  was  given  him  by  the  Constitution  ; 
and  in  time  of  war,  when  the  very  foundations  of 
society  and  life  itself  are  threatened,  common  sense 


Judge   Taney's    Writ.  143 

dictates  that  spies,  traitors,  and  enemies  may  be 
imprisoned  by  military  power.  Inter  arma  silent 
leges — law  must  yield  in  war.  But  that  large  party 
in  the  North,  which  did  not  believe  that  anything  was 
legal  which  coerced  the  Confederacy,  was  furious.  : 
On  the  2/th  May,  1861,  General  Cadwalader,  by  the 
authority  of  the  President,  refused  to  obey  a  writ 
issued  by  Judge  Taney — "  the  Judge  who  pronounced 
the  Dred-Scott  decision,  the  greatest  crime  in  the 
judicial  annals  of  the  Republic" — for  the  release  of 
a  rebel  prisoner  in  Fort  M'Henry.  The  Chief  Justice 
declared  that  the  President  could  not  suspend  the 
writ,  which  was  a  virtual  declaration  that  it  was 
illegal  to  put  a  stop  to  the  proceedings  of  the 
thousands  of  traitors  in  the  North,  many  of  whom, 
like  the  Mayor  of  New  York,  were  in  high  office. 
In  July,  1862,  Attorney-General  Black  declared  that 
the  President  had  the  right  to  arrest  aiders  of  the 
rebellion,  and  to  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in 
such  cases.  It  was  by  virtue  of  this  suspension  that 
the  rebel  legislators  of  Maryland  had  been  arrested, 
and  the  secession  of  the  state  prevented  (September 
1 6th,  1862).  The  newspapers  opposed  to  Mr.  Lincoln 
attacked  the  suspension  of  the  writ  with  great  fierce- 
ness.  But  such  attacks  never  ruffled  the  President. 
On  one  occasion,  when  the  Copperhead  press  was 
more  stormy  than  usual,  he  said  it  reminded  him  of 
two  newly-arrived  Irish  emigrants  who  one  night 


144  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

were  terribly  alarmed  by  a  grand  chorus  of  bull-frogs. 
They  advanced  to  discover  the  "inimy,"  but  could 
not  find  him,  until  at  last  one  exclaimed,  "And  sure, 
Jamie,  I  belave  it's  just  nothing  but  a  naise"  (noise). 
Arrests  continued  to  be  made ;  among  them  was  that 
of  Clement  L.  Vallandigham,  a  member  of  Congress 
from  Ohio,  who,  in  a  political  canvass  of  his  district, 
bitterly  abused  the  Administration,  and  called  on  his 
leaders  to  resist  the  execution  of  the  law  ordering 
the  arrest  of  persons  aiding  the  enemy.  For  this 
he  was  properly  arrested  by  General  Burnside  (May 
4th,  1863),  and,  having  been  tried,  was  sentenced  to 
imprisonment ;  but  President  Lincoln  modified  his 
sentence  by  directing  that  he  should  be  sent  within 
the  rebel  lines,  and  not  be  allowed  to  return  to  the 
United  States  till  after  the  close  of  the  war.  This 
trial  and  sentence  created  great  excitement,  and  by 
many  Vallandigham  was  regarded  as  a  martyr.  A 
large  meeting  of  these  rebel  sympathisers  was  held 
in  Albany,  at  which  Seymour,  the  Governor  of  New 
York,  presided,  when  the  conduct  of  President 
Lincoln  was  denounced  as  establishing  military 
despotism.  At  this  meeting,  the  Democratic  or 
Copperhead  party  of  New  York,  while  nominally 
professing  a  desire  to  preserve  the  Union,  took  the 
most  effectual  means  to  destroy  it  by  condemning 
the  right  of  the  President  to  punish  its  enemies. 
These  resolutions  having  been  sent  to  President 


The  "Alabama"  145 


Lincoln,  he  replied  by  a  letter  in  which  he  discussed 
at  length,  and  in  a  clear  and  forcible  style,  the 
constitutional  provision  for  suspension  of  the  writ, 
and  its  application  to  the  circumstances  then  existing. 
Many  such  meetings  were  held,  condemning  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  and  the  sentence  of 
Vallandigham.  Great  complaint  was  made  that  the 
President  did  not  act  on  his  own  responsibility  in 
these  arrests,  but  left  them  to  the  discretion  of 
military  commanders.  In  answer,  the  President 
issued  a  proclamation  meeting  the  objections.  At 
the  next  state  election,  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  Governor,  but  was  defeated 
by  a  majority  of  ico,ooo. 

The  year  1862  did  not,  any  more  than  1861,  pass 
without  foreign  difficulties.  Mr.  Adams,  the  American 
minister  in  London,  had  remonstrated  with  the  British 
Government  to  stop  the  fitting  out  of  rebel  privateers 
in  English  ports.  These  cruisers,  chief  among  which 
were  the  Alabama,  Florida,  and  Georgia,  avoiding 
armed  ships,  devoted  themselves  to  robbing  and 
destroying  defenceless  merchantmen.  The  Alabama 
was  commanded  by  a  Captain  Semmes,  who,  while 
in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  had  written  a 
book  in  which  he  vigorously  attacked,  as  wicked  and 
piratical,  the  system  of  privateering,  being  one  of 
the  first  to  oppose  that  which  he  afterwards  practised. 
Three  weeks  before  the  "290,"  afterwards  the  Alabama 


146  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

escaped  from  the  yard  of  the  Messrs.  Laird  at 
Birkenhcad  (July,  1862),  the  British  Government  was 
notified  of  the  character  of  the  vessel,  and  warned 
that  it  would  be  held  responsible  for  whatever 
damage  it  might  inflict  on  American  commerce. 
The  Alabama,  however,  escaped,  the  result  being 
incalculable  mischief,  which  again  bore  evil  fruit  in 
later  days. 

In  the  same  year  the  Emperor  of  the  French  made 
an  offer  of  mediation  between  the  Federal  and  Con 
federate  Governments,  intimating  that  separation 
was  "  an  extreme  which  could  no  longer  be  avoided." 
The  President,  in  an  able  reply  (February  6th,  1863), 
pointed  out  the  great  recaptures  of  territory  from 
the  Confederates  which  had  taken  place — that  what 
remained  was  held  in  close  blockade,  and  very 
properly  rejected  the  proposition  that  the  United 
States  should  confer  on  terms  of  equality  with  armed 
rebels.  He  also  showed  that  several  of  the  states 
which  had  rebelled  had  already  returned  to  the  Union. 
This  despatch  put  an  end  to  all  proposals  of  foreign 
intervention,  and  was  of  great  use  in  clearly  setting 
forth  to  the  partisans  of  the  Union  the  unflinching 
and  determined  character  of  their  Government,  and 
of  the  man  who  was  its  Executive  head. 


CHAPTER   X. 

Eighteen  Hundred  and  Sixty-three — A  Popular  Prophecy — Gen.  Burnside 
relieved  and  Gen.  Hooker  appointed — Battle  of  Chancellorsville — The 
Rebels  invade  Pennsylvania— Battt  of  Gettysburg— Lincoln's  Speech  at 
Gettysburg— Grant  takes  Vicksburg— Port  Hudson— Battle  of  Chattan 
ooga — New  York  Riots — The  French  in  Mexico— Troubles  in  Missouri. 

THERE  was,  during  the  rebellion,  a  popular  rhyme 
declaring  that  "  In  Sixty-one,  the  war  begun  ;  in 
Sixty-two,  we'll  put  it  through ;  in  Sixty-three,  the 
nigger  '11  be  free  ;  in  Sixty-four,  the  war  '11  be  o'er — 
and  Johnny  come  marching  home."  The  predictions 
were  substantially  fulfilled.  On  January  ist,  1863, 
nearly  4,000,000  slaves  who  had  been  merchandise 
became  men  in  the  sight  of  the  law,  and  the  war, 
having  been  literally  "  put  through"  with  great 
energy,  was  beginning  to  promise  a  definite  success 
to  the  Federal  cause.  But  the  Union  owed  this 
advance  less  to  its  own  energy  than  to  the  great 
hearted,  patient,  and  honest  man  who  was  at  its 
head,  and  who  was  more  for  his  country  and  less  for 
himself  than  any  one  who  had  ever  before  waded 
through  the  mud  of  politics  to  so  high  a  position. 
That  so  tender-hearted  a  man  should  have  been  so 
firm  in  great  trials,  is  the  more  remarkable  when  we 
remember  that  his  gentleness  often  interfered  w;th 


148  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

justice.  When  the  rebels,  by  their  atrocities  to  the 
black  soldiers  who  fell  into  their  hands,  caused  him 
to  issue  an  order  (July  3Oth,  1863),  declaring  that 
"for  every  soldier  of  the  United  States  killed  in 
violation  of  the  laws  of  war  a  rebel  soldier  shall  be 
executed,  and  for  every  one  sold  into  slavery  a  rebel 
soldier  shall  be  placed  at  hard  labour,"  it  seemed  as 
if  vigorous  retaliation  was  at  last  to  be  inflicted. 
"  But,"  as  Ripley  and  Dana  state,  "  Mr.  Lincoln's 
natural  tender-heartedness  prevented  him  from  ever 
ordering  such  an  execution." 

Lincoln  having  discovered  in  the  case  of  M'Clellan 
that  incompetent  or  unlucky  generals  could  be 
"relieved"  without  endangering  the  country,  Gener-al 
Burnside,  after  the  disaster  of  Fredericksburg,  was 
set  aside  (January  24th,  1863),  and  General  Joseph 
Hooker  appointed  in  his  place  to  command  the  army 
of  the  Potomac.  From  the  2/th  of  April,  General 
Hooker  advanced  to  Kelly's  Ford,  and  thence  to 
Chancellorsville.  A  force  under  General  Stoneman 
had  succeeded  in  cutting  the  railroad  in  the  rear  of 
the  rebels,  so  as  to  prevent  their  receiving  reinforce 
ments  from  Richmond,  General  Hooker  intending  to 
attack  them  flank  and  rear.  On  the  2nd  May,  he 
met  the  enemy  at  Chancellorsville,  where,  after  a 
terrible  battle,  which  continued  with  varying  success 
for  three  days,  he  was  compelled  to  withdraw  his 
army  to  the  north  bank  of  the  Rappahannock,  having 


The  Emergency.  149 

lost  nearly  18,000  men.  The  rebel  loss  was  also 
very  large.  General  Stonewall  Jackson  was  killed 
through  an  accidental  shot  from  one  of  his  own  men. 
Inspired  by  this  success,  the  Confederate  General 
Lee  resolved  to  move  into  the  enemy's  country.  On 
the  pth  June,  he  advanced  north-west  to  the  valley 
of  the  Shenandoah.  On  the  1 3th,  the  rebel  General 
Ewell,  with  a  superior  force,  attacked  and  utterly 
defeated  General  Milroy  at  Winchester.  On  the 
I4th  July,  the 'rebel  army  marched  into  Maryland, 
with  the  intention  of  invading  Pennsylvania.  A 
great  excitement  sprung  up  in  the  North.  In  a  few 
days  the  President  issued  a  proclamation,  calling  for 
120,000  troops  from  the  states  most  in  danger.  They 
were  promptly  sent,  and,  in  addition  to  these,  thou 
sands  formed  themselves  into  improvised  companies 
and  hurried  off  to  battle — for  in  those  days  almost 
every  man,  at  one  time  or  another,  had  a  turn  at 
the  war,  the  writer  himself  being  one  of  those  who 
went  out  in  this  emergency.  The  danger  was  indeed 
great,  and  had  Lee  been  the  Napoleon  which  his 
friends  thought  him,  he  might  well  enough  have 
advanced  to  Philadelphia.  That  on  one  occasion  three 
of  his  scouts  came  within  sight  of  Harrisburg  I  am 
certain,  having  seen  them  with  my  own  eyes,  though 
no  one  then  deemed  it  credible.  But  two  years  after, 
when  I  mentioned  it  to  a  wounded  Confederate 
Colonel  who  had  come  in  to  receive  parole  in  West 


150  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Virginia,  he  laughed,  and  assured  me  that,  on  the 
day  of  which  I  spoke,  three  of  his  men  returned, 
boasting  that  they  had  been  in  sight  of  Harrisburg, 
but  that,  till  he  heard  my  story,  he  had  never  believed 
them.  And  this  was  confirmed  by  another  Con 
federate  officer  who  was  with  him.  On  the  evening 
of  that  day  on  which  I  saw  the  scouts,  there  was  a 
small  skirmish  at  Sporting  Hill,  six  miles  south  of 
Harrisburg,  in  which  two  guns  from  the  artillery 
company  to  which  I  belonged  took  part,  and  this 
was,  I  believe,  the  only  fighting  which  took  place  so 
far  north  during  the  war. 

And  now  there  came  on  the  great  battle  of  Gettys 
burg,  which  proved  to  be  the  turning-point  of  the 
whole  conflict  between  North  and  South.  For  our 
army,  as  soon  as  the  rebels  advanced  north,  advanced 
with  them,  and  when  they  reached  Hagerstown, 
Maryland,  the  Federal  headquarters  were  at  Frederick 
City,  our  whole  force,  as  Raymond  states,  being  thus 
interposed  between  the  rebels  and  Baltimore  and 
Washington.  On  that  day,  General  Hooker  was 
relieved  from  command  of  the  army,  and  General 
Meade  appointed  in  his  place.  This  was  a  true- 
hearted,  loyal  soldier  and  gallant  gentleman,  but  by 
no  means  hating  the  rebels  so  much  at  heart  as  to 
wish  to  "improve  them  all  away  from  the  face  of 
the  earth,"  as  General  Birney  and  others  of  the 
sterner  sort  would  have  gladly  done.  General  Meade 


Battle  of  Gettysburg.  151 

at  once  marched  towards  Harrisburg,  upon  which 
the  enemy  was  also  advancing.  On  the  1st  July, 
Generals  Howard  and  Reynolds  engaged  the  Con 
federates  near  Gettysburg,  but  the  foe  being  strongly 
posted,  and  superior  in  numbers,  compelled  General 
Howard  to  fall  back  to  Cemetery  Hill,  around  which 
all  the  corps  of  the  Union  army  soon  gathered. 
About  three  o'clock,  July  2nd,  the  rebels  came  down 
in  terrible  force  and  with  great  fury  upon  the  3rd 
Corps,  commanded  by  General  Sickles,  who  soon 
had  his  leg  shot  off.  As  the  corps  seemed  lost, 
General  Birney,  who  succeeded  him,  was  urged  to 
fall  back,  but  he,  as  one  who  knew  no  fear — being  a 
grim  fanatic — held  his  ground  with  the  most  desperate 
bravery  till  reinforced  by  the  1st  and  6th  Corps.  The 
roar  of  the  cannon  in  this  battle  was  like  the  sound 
of  a  hundred  thunderstorms,  when,  at  one  o'clock  on 
the  3rd  July,  the  enemy  opened  an  artillery  fire  on 
us  from  150  guns  for  two  hours,  we  replying  with 
IOO ;  and  I  have  been  assured  that,  on  this  occasion, 
the  wild  rabbits,  losing  all  fear  of  man  in  their 
greater  terror  at  this  horrid  noise,  ran  for  shelter, 
and  leaped  into  the  bosoms  of  the  gunners.  Now 
the  battle  raged  terribly,  as  it  did  the  day  before, 
when  General  Wadsworth,  of  New  York,  went  into 
fight  with  nearly  2000  men  and  came  out  with  700. 
Hancock  was  badly  wounded.  The  rebels  fought 
up  to  the  muzzles  of  our  guns,  and  killed  the  artillery 


152  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

horses,  as  many  can  well  remember.  And  the  fight 
was  hand-to-hand  when  -Sedgwick  came  up  with  his 
New  Yorkers,  who,  though  they  had  marched  thirty- 
two  miles  in  seventeen  hours,  dashed  in  desperately, 
hurrahing  as  if  it  were  the  greatest  frolic  in  the  world. 
And  this  turned  the  fight.  The  rebel  Ewell  now 
attacked  the  right,  which  had  been  weakened  to 
support  the  centre,  and  the  fighting  became  terrible  ; 
but  the  ist  and  6th  again  came  to  the  rescue,  and 
drove  them  back,  leaving  great  heaps  of  dead.  Of 
all  the  soldiers,  I  ever  found  these  New  Yorkers  the 
most  courteous  in  camp  and  the  gayest  under  priva 
tions  or  in  battle.  On  the  4th  July,  General  Slocuin 
made  an  attack  at  daybreak  on  Ewell,  who  com 
manded  Stonewall  Jackson's  men,  but  Ewell,  after  a 
desperate  resistance,  was  at  length  beaten. 

The  victory  was  complete,  but  terrible.  On  the 
Union  side  were  23,000  killed,  wounded,  and  missing, 
and  the  losses  of  the  rebels  were  even  greater,  General 
Lee  leaving  in  our  hands  13,621  prisoners.  Lee  was 
crushed,  but  General  Meade,  in  the  words  of  Arnold, 
"  made  no  vigorous  pursuit.  Had  Sheridan  or  Grant 
commanded  in  place  of  Meade,  Lee's  army  would 
never  have  recrossed  the  Potomac."  It  is  said  that 
President  Lincoln  was  greatly  grieved  at  this  over 
sight,  and  once,  when  asked  if  at  any  time  the  war 
might  have  been  sooner  terminated  by  better  manage 
ment,  he  replied,  "  Yes,  at  Malvern  Hill,  where 


General  Meade.  153 


M'Clellan  failed  to  command  an  immediate  advance 
upon  Richmond  ;  at  Chancellorsville,  when  Hooker 
failed  to  reinforce  Sedgwick  ;  and  at  Gettysburg, 
when  Meade  failed  to  attack  Lee  in  his  retreat  at 
the  bend  of  the  Potomac." 

It  is  said  that  General  Meade  did  not  know,  until 
long  after  Lee  had  crossed  (July  I4th,  1863),  or  late 
in  the  morning,  that  he  had  done  so.  Now  I  knew, 
as  did  all  with  me,  at  two  o'clock  the  day  before 
(July  1 3th),  when  General  Lee  would  cross.  We 
knew  that  we  could  not  borrow  an  axe  from  any 
country  house,  because  the  rebels  had  taken  them  all 
to  make  their  bridge  with  ;  for  I  myself  went  to 
several  for  an  axe,  and  could  not  get  one.  During 
the  night,  I  was  awake  on  guard  within  a  mile  or 
very  little  more  of  the  crossing,  and  could  hear  the 
thunder  and  rattle  of  the  rebel  ambulances  and 
caissons  in  headlong  haste,  and  the  groans  of  the 
wounded,  to  whom  the  rebels  gave  little  care.  If 
General  Meade  knew  nothing  of  all  this,  there  were 
hundreds  in  his  army  who  did.  But  the  truth  is, 
that  as  General  Meade  was  one  who  would  never 
strike  a  man  when  he  was  down,  so,  in  the  entire 
chivalry  of  his  nature,  he  would  not  pursue  a  flying 
and  conquered  foe.  This  was  to  be  expected  from 
one  who  was  the  Sidney  of  our  war,  and  yet  it  was 
but  mistaken  policy  for  an  enemy  which  wore  orna 
ments  made  of  the  bones  of  Federal  soldiers,  whose 


154  Life   of  Abraham   Lincoln. 

women  abused  prisoners,  and  whose  programme, 
published  before  the  war  began,  advocated  the  shoot 
ing  of  pickets.  Such  a  foe  requires  a  Cromwell,  and 
in  Grant  they  got  him. 

During  this  summer  of  1863,  a  part  of  the  battle 
field  was  bought  by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
kept  for  a  burial-ground  for  those  who  had  fallen  in 
the  fight.  On  November  ipth,  1863,  it  was  duly 
consecrated  with  solemn  ceremonies,  on  which  occasion 
President  Lincoln  made  a  brief  address,  which  has 
been  thought,  perhaps  not  without  reason,  to  be  the 
finest  ever  delivered  on  such  an  occasion. 

"Four  score  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought 
forth  upon  this  continent  a  new  nation  conceived  in  liberty, 
and  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created 
equal.  Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing 
whether  that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived  and  so 
dedicated,  can  long  endure.  We  are  met  on  a  great  battle 
field  of  that  war.  We  have  come  to  dedicate  a  portion  of 
that  field  as  a  final  resting-place  for  those  who  here  gave 
their  lives  that  the  nation  might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting 
and  proper  that  we  should  do  this.  But  in  a  larger  sense 
we  cannot  dedicate — we  cannot  consecrate — we  cannot 
hallow  this  ground.  The  brave  men.  living  and  dead,  who 
struggled  here,  have  consecrated  it  far  above  our  power  to 
add  or  detract.  The  world  will  little  note,  nor  long 
remember,  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget  what 
they  did  here.  It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather  to  be  dedicated 
here  to  the  unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here 
have  thus  so  far  nobly  advanced,  it  is  rather  for  us  to  be 


Lincoln  and  Everett.  155 

here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us — that 
from  these  honoured  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to  the 
cause  for  which  they  here  gave  the  last  full  measure  of 
devotion — that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  the  dead  shall 
not  have  died  in  vain — that  the  nation  shall,  under  God, 
have  a  new  birth  of  freedom — and  that  the  Government 
of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,  shall  not 
perish  from  the  earth." 

These  simple  yet  grand  words  greatly  moved  his 
hearers,  and  among  the  thousands  could  be  heard 
sobs  and  broken  cheers.  On  this  occasion,  Edward 
Everett,  "New  England's  most  polished  and  graceful 
orator,"  also  spoke.  And  this  was  the  difference 
between  them — that  while  Everett  made  those  present 
think  only  of  him  living  in  their  admiration  of  his  art, 
the  listeners  forgot  Lincoln,  and  wept  in  thinking  of 
the  dead.  But  it  is  to  Mr.  Everett's  credit  that  on  this 
occasion,  speaking  to  the  President,  he  said,  "Ah! 
Mr.  Lincoln,  how  gladly  would  I  exchange  a  my 
hundred  pages  to  have  been  the  author  of  your 
twenty  lines." 

Meanwhile,  the  army  of  the  West  had  been  far 
from  idle.  The  great  Mississippi,  whose  arms  reach 
to  sixteen  states,  was  held  by  the  rebels,  who  thus 
imprisoned  the  North-West.  Those  who  ask  why 
the  Confederacy  was  not  allowed  to  withdraw  in 
peace,  need  only  look  at  the  map  of  North  America 
for  an  answer.  And  to  President  Lincoln  belongs 


156  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

specially  the  credit  of  having  planned  the  great 
campaign  which  freed  the  Mississippi.  He  was  con 
stantly  busy  with  it ;  "  his  room,"  says  Arnold,  "  was 
ever  full  of  maps  and  plans ;  he  marked  upon  them 
every  movement,  and  no  subordinate  was  at  all  times 
so  completely  a  master  of  the  situation."  He  soon 
appreciated  the  admirable  qualities  of  the  unflinching 
Grant,  and  determined  that  he  should  lead  this 
decisive  campaign  in  the  West.  General  Grant  h'ad 
many  enemies,  and  some  of  them  accused  him  of 
habits  of  intemperance.  To  one  of  these,  endeavour 
ing  to  thus  injure  the  credit  of  the  General,  President 
Lincoln  said,  "Does  Grant  get  drunk?"  "They  say 
so,"  was  the  reply.  "  Are  you  quite  sure  he  gets 
drunk  ?"  "  Quite."  There  was  a  pause,  which  the 
President  broke  by  gravely  exclaiming,  "  I  wonder 
where  he  buys  his  whiskey!"  "And  why  do  you 
want  to  know  ?"  was  the  astonished  answer.  "  Because 
if  I  did,"  replied  Mr.  Lincoln,  "  I'd  send  a  barrel  or 
two  of  it  round  to  some  other  Generals  I  know  of." 

In  January,  1863,  Generals  M 'demand  and  Sher 
man,  commanding  the  army  of  the  Mississippi,  acting 
with  the  fleet  under  command  of  Admiral  Porter, 
captured  Arkansas  Post,  with  7000  prisoners  and 
many  cannon.  On  the  2nd  February,  General  Grant 
arrived  near  Vicksburg.  His  object  was  to  get  his 
army  below  and  behind  this  city,  and  the  difficulties 
in  the  way  were  enormous,  as  the  whole  vicinity  of 


Grant  at  Vicksburg.  157 

the  place  "  was  a  network  of  bayous,  lakes,  marshes, 
and  old  channels  of  streams."  For  weeks  the 
untiring  Grant  was  baffled  in  his  efforts  to  cut  a 
channel  or  find  a  passage,  so  as  to  approach  the  city 
from  the  ridge  in  the  rear.  He  was,  as  Washburne 
said,  "terribly  in  earnest."  He  had  neither  horse, 
nor  servant,  nor  camp  chest,  nor  for  days  even  a 
blanket.  He  fared  like  the  commonest  soldier  under 
his  command,  partaking  the  same  rations,  and  sleep 
ing  on  the  ground  under  the  stars.  After  many 
failures,  the  General,  "with  a  persistence  which  has 
marked  his  whole  career,  conceived  a  plan  without 
parallel  in  military  history  for  its  boldness  and 
daring."  This  was  briefly  to  march  his  army  to  a 
point  b^low  Vicksburg,  "  then  to  run  the  bristling 
batteries  of  that  rebel  Gibraltar,  exposed  to  its 
hundreds  of  heavy  guns,  with  his  transports,  and  then 
to  cross  the  Mississippi  below  Vicksburg,  and,  return 
ing,  attack  that  city  in  the  rear."  The  crews  of  the 
very  frail  Mississippi  steamboats,  aware  of  the  danger, 
with  one  exception,  refused  to  go.  But  when  Grant 
called  for  volunteers,  there  came  from  his  army  such 
numbers  of  pilots,  engineers,  firemen,  and  deck-hands, 
that  he  had  to  select  by  lot  those  who  were  to  sail 
on  this  forlorn  hope.  And  they  pressed  into  the 
desperate  undertaking  with  such  earnestness,  that 
great  numbers  offered  all  their  money  for  a  chance 
in  this  lottery  of  death,  as  much  as  100  dollars  in 


158  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

United  States  currency  being  offered  and  refused 
by  those  who  had  had  the  luck  to  get  what  seemed 
to  be  a  certainty  to  lose  their  lives.  And  these  men 
truly  rode  into  the  jaws  of  death,  believing  long 
beforehand  that  there  was  very  little  hope  for  any 
one  to  live.  Into  the  night  they  sailed  in  dead 
silence,  and  then,  abreast  of  the  city,  there  came  from 
the  batteries  such  a  blaze  of  fire  and  such  a  roar  of 
artillery  as  had  seldom  been  seen  or  heard  in  the 
war.  The  gunboats  fired  directly  on  the  city;  the 
transports  went  on  at  full  speed,  and  the  troops 
were  landed.  But  this  was  only  the  first  step  in  a 
tremendous  drama.  The  battle  at  the  taking  of 
Fort  Gibson  was  the  next.  Now  Grant  found  him 
self  in  the  enemy's  country,  between  two  fortified 
cities,  with  two  armies,  greatly  his  superior  in  numbers, 
against  him.  Then  followed  battle  after  battle,  and 
"rapid  marches,  brilliant  with  gallant  charges  and 
deeds  of  heroic  valour,  winning  victories  in  quick 
succession — at  Raymond  on  the  I2th,  at  Jackson  the 
capital  of  Mississippi  on  the  I4th,  at  Baker's  Creek 
on  the  1 6th,  at  Big  Block  River  on  the  i/th,  and 
finally  closing  with  driving  the  enemy  into  Vicks- 
burg,  and  completely  investing  the  city."  The  whole 
South  was  in  terror,  and  Jefferson  Davis  sent  messages 
far  and  wide,  imploring  every  rebel  to  hasten  to 
Vicksburg.  It  was  all  in  vain.  After  desperately 
assaulting  the  city  without  success,  Grant  resolved 


Lincoln  and  Grant.  159 

on  a  regular  siege.  "  Then,  with  tireless  energy,  with 
sleepless  vigilance  night  and  day,  with  battery  and 
rifle,  with  trench  and  mine,  the  army  made  its 
approaches,  until  the  enemy,  worn  out  with  fatigue, 
exhausted  of  food  and  ammunition,  and  driven  -to 
despair,  finally  laid  down  their  arms,"  Grant  sternly 
refusing,  as  was  his  wont,  any  terms  to  the  conquered. 
By  this  capture,  with  its  accompanying  engagements, 
the  rebels  lost  37,000  prisoners  and  10,000  killed  and 
wounded.  The  joy  which  this  victory  excited  all 
through  the  Union  was  beyond  description.  Pre 
sident  Lincoln  wrote  to  General  Grant  a  letter  which 
was  creditable  to  his  heart.  In  it  he  frankly  con 
fessed  that  Grant  had  understood  certain  details 
better  than  himself.  "  I  wish  to  make  personal 
acknowledgment,"  he  said,  "that  you  were  right  and 
I  was  wrong." 

In  this  war  the  rebels  set  the  example  of  greatly 
encouraging  irregular  cavalry  and  guerillas,  having 
always  an  idea  that  the  Northern  army  would  be 
exterminated  in  detail  by  sharp-shooters,  and  cut 
to  pieces  with  bowie-knives.  This,  more  than  any 
other  cause,  led  to  their  own  ruin,  for  .all  such  troops 
in  a  short  time  became  mere  brigands,  preying  on 
friends  as  well  as  foes.  On  both  sides  there  were 
dashing  raids,  and  at  first  the  rebels,  having  better 
cavalry,  had  the  best  of  it.  But  as  the  war  went  on, 
there  were  great  changes.  Cavalry  soldiers  from 


160  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

horses  often  came  to  mules,  or  even  down  to  their 
own  legs ;  while  infantry,  learning  that  riding  was 
easier  than  walking,  and  horse-stealing  as  easy  as 
either,  transformed  themselves  into  cavalry,  without 
reporting  the  change  to  the  general  in  command,  and 
if  they  had  done  so,  the  chances  are  ten  to  one  he 
and  all  his  staff  would  have  been  found  mounted  on 
just  such  unpaid-for  steeds.  If  the  rebels  Ashley, 
Morgan,  and  Stewart  set  fine  examples  in  raiding, 
they  were  soon  outdone  by  Phil  Sheridan  and  Kil- 
patrick — who  was  as  good  an  orator  as  soldier,  and 
who  once,  when  surprised  by  the  rebels,  fought  and 
won  a  battle  in  his  shirt — or  Custer  and  Grierson, 
Dahlgren  and  Pleasanton.  Of  this  raiding  and 
robbing  it  may  be  truly  said  that,  while  the  South 
taught  the  trick,  it  did,  after  all,  but  nibble  at  the 
edges  of  the  Northern  cake,  while  the  Federals  sliced 
theirs  straight  through. 

General  Banks,  who  had  succeeded  General  Butler 
in  the  Department  of  the  Gulf,  invested  Port  Hudson. 
The  siege  lasted  until  May  8th,  and  during  the  attack, 
the  black  soldiers,  who  had  been  slaves,  fought  with 
desperate  courage,  showing  no  fear  whatever.  In 
America  we  had  been  so  accustomed  to  deny  all 
manliness  to  the  negro,  that  few  believed  him  capable 
of  fighting,  though  many  thought  otherwise  near 
Nashville  in  1864,  when  they  saw  whole  platoons  of 
black  soldiers  lying  dead  in  regular  rows,  just  as  they 


Black  Soldiers.  161 


had  been  shot  down  facing  the  enemy.  Even  the 
common  soldiers  opposed  the  use  of  black  troops, 
until  the  idea  rose  slowly  on  their  minds  that  a  negro 
was  not  only  as  easy  to  hit  as  a  white  man,  but  much 
more  likely  to  attract  a  bullet  from  the  chivalry.  As 
I  once  heard  a  soldier  say,  "  I  used  to  be  opposed  to 
having  black  troops,  but  yesterday,  when  I  saw  ten 
cart-loads  of  dead  niggers  carried  off  the  field,  I 
thought  it  better  they  should  be  killed  than  I."  Of 
this  tender  philanthropy,  which  was  willing  to  let 
the  negro  buy  a  place  in  the  social  scale  at  the 
expense  of  his  life,  there  was  a  great  deal  in  the 
army,  especially  among  the  Union-men  of  the  South- 
West,  who,  while  brave  as  lions  or  grizzly  bears,  were 
yet  prudent  as  prairie-dogs,  as  all  true  soldiers  should 
be.  This  charge  of  the  Black  Regiment  at  Port 
Hudson  was  made  the  subject  of  a'  poem  by 
George  H.  Boker,  which  became  known  all  over  the 
country. 

"  Now,"  the  flag-sergeant  cried, 
"  Though  death  and  hell  betide, 
Let  the  whole  nation  see 
If  we  are  fit  to  be 
Free  in  this  land  ;  or  bound 
Down,  like  the  whining  hound- 
Bound  with  red  stripes  of  pain 
In  our  old  chains  again  !" 
Oh,  what  a  shout  there  went 
From  the  Black  Regiment  1 
L 


1 62  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

"  Freedom  ! "  their  battle-cry — 
"  Freedom  !  or  leave  to  die  !" 
Ah  !  and  they  meant  the  word 
Not  as  with  us  'tis  heard. 
Not  a  mere  party  shout, 
They  gave  their  spirits  out ; 
Trusted  the  end  to  God, 
And  on  the  gory  sod 
Rolled  in  triumphant  blood. 
Glad  to  strike  one  free  blow, 
Whether  for  weal  or  woe ; 
Glad  to  breathe  one  free  breath, 
Though  on  the  lips  of  death. 
This  was  what  "Freedom"  lent 
To  the  Black  Regiment. 

Hundreds  on  hundreds  fell ; 
But  they  are  resting  well ; 
Scourges  and  shackles  strong 
Never  shall  do  them  wrong. 
Oh,  to  the  living  few, 
Soldiers,  be  just  and  true  j 
Hail  them  as  comrades  tried, 
Fight  with  them  side  by  side ; 
Never,  in  field  or  tent, 
Scorn  the  Black  Regiment. 

On  the  9th  July,  Port  Hudson  surrendered  to 
General  Banks,  yielding  over  5000  prisoners  and  fifty 
pieces  of  artillery.  And  now,  from  the  land  of  snow 
to  the  land  of  flowers,  the  whole  length  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  was  once  more  beneath  the  old  flag, 


Battle  of  Chicamauga.  163 

Meanwhile,  there  was  hard  fighting  in  Tennessee. 
After  a  battle  at  Murfreesboro',  and  the  seizure  of 
that  place,  the  Union  General  Rosencranz  (January 
5th,  1863)  remained  quiet,  till,  in  June,  he  compelled 
General  Bragg  to  retreat  across  the  Cumberland 
Mountains  to  Chattanooga.  By  skilful  management, 
he  compelled  the  Confederates  to  evacuate  this  town. 
They  had  thus  been  skilfully  drawn  from  East 
Tennessee,  which  was  occupied  by  General  Burnside. 
Both  Rosencranz  and  the  rebel  Bragg  were  now 
largely  reinforced,  the  former  by  General  Hooker. 
At  Vicksburg,  Grant  had  taken  37,000  prisoners, 
which  he  had  set  free  on  parole,  on  condition  that 
they  should  not  fight  again  during  the  war;  but 
these  men  were  promptly  sent  to  reinforce  Bragg. 
September  19,  these  opposing  forces  began  the  battle 
of  Chicamauga,  in  which  the  Union  troops  achieved 
a  dearly-bought  victory,  though  the  enemy  retreated 
by  night.  The  Federal  loss  was  16,351  killed, 
wounded,  and  missing ;  that  of  the  rebels,  as  stated 
in  their  return,  was  18,000. 

October  ipth,  1863,  General  Grant  assumed  full 
command  of  the  Departments  of  Tennessee,  the 
Cumberland,  and  Ohio,  Thomas  holding  under  him 
the  first,  and  Sherman  the  second.  After  the 
desperate  battle  of  Chicamauga,  Thomas  followed 
Rosencranz  to  Chattanooga,  and  the  rebels  invested 
the  place.  In  October,  Rosencranz  was  relieved. 


164  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Grant  arrived  on  the  i8th,  and  found  the  enemy 
occupying  the  steep  and  rocky  Missionary  Ridge  and 
Lookout  Mountain,  on  whose  summit  they  sat  like 
eagles.  Grant  had  under  him  General  Thomas,  the 
invincible  Sheridan,  Hooker — who,  as  a  hard-fighting 
corps-commander,  was  without  an  equal — Howard, 
and  Blair.  This  battle  of  Chattanooga,  in  which  the 
Union  army  charged  with  irresistible  strength,  and 
the  storming  of  Lookout  Mountain,  formed,  as  has 
been  said,  the  most  dramatic  scene  of  the  war. 
There  was  desperate  fighting  above  the  clouds,  and 
advancing  through  the  mist,  made  denser  by  the 
smoke  of  thousands  of  guns.  The  Union  loss  in  this 
battle  was  5286  killed  and  wounded,  and  330  missing  ; 
that  of  the  Confederates  about  the  same,  but  losing 
in  prisoners  6242,  with  forty  cannon.  Thus  Ten 
nessee  was  entirely  taken,  in  gratitude  for  which 
President  Lincoln  issued  a  proclamation,  appointing 
a  day  of  thanksgiving  for  this  great  victory. 

In  the  July  of  this  year,  John  Morgan,  the  guerilla, 
made  a  raid,  with  4000  men,  into  Ohio — not  to  fight, 
but  to  rob,  burn,  and  murder.  He  did  much  damage  ; 
but  before  he  could  recross  the  river,  his  men  were 
utterly  routed,  and  the  pious  Colonel  Shackelford 
announced  in  a  despatch,  "  By  the  blessing  of 
Almighty  God,  I  have  succeeded  in  capturing  General 
John  Morgan,  Colonel  Chike,  and  the  remainder  of 
the  command."  President  Lincoln,  when  informed 


The  New   York  Riots.,  165 

soon  after  of  the  death  of  this  cruel  brigand,  said, 
"  Well,  I  wouldn't  crow  over  anybody's  death,  but  I 
can  take  this  as  resignedly  as  any  dispensation  of 
Providence." 

A  draft  for  militia  had  been  ordered  (March  3rd, 
1863),  and  passed  with  little  trouble,  save  in  New 
York,  where  an  immense  number  of  the  dangerous 
classes  and  foreigners  of  the  lowest  order,  headed  by 
such  demagogues  as  Fernando  Wood,  sympathised 
with  the  South,  and  controlled  the  elections.  There 
was  a  wise  and  benevolent  clause  in  this  draft,  which 
exempted  from  conscription  any  one  who  would  pay 
to  Government  300  dollars.  The  practical  result  of 
this  clause  was  that  plenty  of  volunteers  were  always 
ready  to  go  for  this  sum,  which  fixed  the  price  of  a 
substitute  and  prevented  fraud  ;  and  in  all  the  wards, 
the  inhabitants,  by  making  up  a  joint  fund,  were  able 
to  exempt  any  dweller  in  the  ward  from  service,  as 
there  were  always  poor  men  enough  glad  to  go  for 
so  much  money.  But  in  New  York  the  mob  was 
stirred  up  to  believe  that  this  was  simply  an  exemp 
tion  for  the  rich,  and  a  terrible  riot  ensued,  which 
was  the  one  effort  made  by  the  Copperheads  during 
the  war  to  assist  their  Confederate  friends  by  violence. 
During  the  four  days  that  it  lasted,  the  most  horrible 
outrages  were  committed,  chiefly  upon  the  helpless 
blacks  of  the  city,  though  many  houses  belonging  to 
prominent  Union-men  were  burned  or  sacked.  As 


1 66  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

all  the  troops  had  been  sent  away  to  defend  the 
Border  and  repel  the  rebels,  there  was  no  organised 
force  to  defend  the  city.  After  the  first  day  the 
draft  was  forgotten,  and  thousands  of  the  vilest 
wretches  of  both  sexes  gave  themselves  up  simply  to 
plunder,  outrage,  and  murder.  The  mob  attacked 
the  coloured  half-orphan  asylum,  in  which  nearly  800 
black  children  were  sheltered,  and  set  fire  to  it, 
burning  thirty  of  the  children  alive,  and  sadly  abusing 
the  rest.  Insane  with  cruelty,  they  caught  and  killed 
every  negro  they  could  find.  In  one  case,  they  hung 
a  negro,  and  then  kindled  a  fire  under  him.  This 
riot  was  stirred  up  by  rebel  agents,  who  hoped  to 
make  a  diversion  in  the  free  states  in  favour  of  their 
armies,  and  influence,  the  elections.  It  did  cause  the 
weakening  of  the  army  of  Meade,  since  many  troops 
were  promptly  sent  back  to  New  York.  There  was 
also  a  riot  in  Boston,  which  was  soon  repressed. 
The  rebels,  while  following  out  the  recommendation 
of  Jefferson  Davis,  had  gone  too  far,  even  for  his 
interest.  He  had  urged  pillage  and  incendiarism ; 
but  the  Copperheads  of  New  York  found  out  that  a 
mob  once  in  motion  plunders  friend  and  foe  indis 
criminately.  The  Governor  of  New  York,  Seymour, 
was  in  a  great  degree  responsible  for  all  these 
outrages  by  his  vigorous  opposition  to  the  draft,  and 
by  the  feeble  tone  of  his  remonstrances,  which  sug 
gested  sympathy  and  encouragement  for  the  rioters. 


7 he  French  in  Mexico.  167 

The   arrival   of  troops   at   once   put   a   stop  to  the 
riots. 

One  of  the  most  annoying  entanglements  of  1863 
for  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  the 
presence  of  a  French  army  in  Mexico,  ostensibly  to 
enforce  the  rights  of  French  citizens  there,  but  in 
reality  to  establish  the  Archduke  Maximilian  as  its 
emperor.  It  was  given  out  that  permanent  occupa 
tion  was  not  intended  ;  but  as  it  became  apparent 
to  Mr.  Dayton,  our  Minister  at  Paris,  that  the  French 
actually  had  in  view  a  kingdom  in  Mexico,  and  as  it 
had  always  been  an  understood  principle  of  American 
diplomacy  that  the  United  States  would  avoid 
meddling  in  European  affairs,  on  condition  that  no 
European  Government  should  set  up  a  kingdom  on 
our  continent,  the  position  of  our  Administration  was 
thus  manifested — 

"  The  United  States  have  neither  the  right  nor  the  dis 
position  to  intervene  by  force  on  either  side  in  the  lament 
able  war  which  is  going  on  between  France  and  Mexico. 
On  the  contrary,  they  practise,  in  regard  to  Mexico,  in  every 
phase  of  that  war,  the  non-intervention  which  they  require 
all  foreign  powers  to  observe  in  regard  to  the  United  States. 
But,  notwithstanding  this  self-restraint,  this  Government 
knows  full  well  that  the  inherent  normal  opinion  of  Mexico 
favours  a  government  there,  republican  in  its  form  and 
domestic  in  its  organisation,  in  preference  to  any  monarchical 
institutions  to  be  imposed  from  abroad.  This  Government 
knows  also  that  this  normal  opinion  of  the  people  of 


1 68  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Mexico  resulted  largely  from  the  influence  of  popular 
opinion  in  this  country,  and  is  continually  invigorated  by  it. 
The  President  believes,  moreover,  that  this  popular  opinion 
of  the  United  States  is  just  in  itself,  and  eminently  essential 
to  the  progress  of  civilisation  on  the  American  continent, 
which  civilisation,  it  believes,  can  and  will,  if  left  free  from 
European  resistance,  work  harmoniously  together  with 
advancing  refinement  on  the  other  continents. 
Nor  is  it  necessary  to  practise  reserve  upon  the  point  that 
if  France  should,  upon  due  consideration,  determine  to 
adopt  a  policy  in  Mexico  adverse  to  the  American  opinion 
and  sentiments  which  I  have  described",  that  policy  would 
probably  scatter  seeds  which  would  be  fruitful  of  jealousies 
which  mjght  ultimately  ripen  into  collision  between  France 
and  the  United  States  and  other  American  republics." 

The  French  Government  was  anxious  that  the 
United  States  should  recognise  the  Government  of 
Maximilian,  but  its  unfriendly  and  unsympathetic 
disposition  towards  the  Federal  Government  was 
perfectly  understood,  and  "the  action  of  the  Adminis 
tration  was  approved  of  by  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  in  a  resolution  of  April  4th,  1864." 

Eighteen  hundred  and  -sixty-three  had,  however, 
much  greater  political  trouble,  the  burden  of 
which  fell  almost  entirely  on  President  Lincoln. 
The  Emancipation  principles  were  not  agreeable 
to  the  most  ultra  Abolitionists,  who  were  willing 
at  -one  time  to  let  the  South  secede  rather  than 
be  linked  to  slavery,  and  who  at  all  times,  in 


General  Fremont.  169 

their  impatience  of  what  was  undeniably  a  terrible 
evil,  regarded  nothing  so  much  as  the  welfare  of  the 
slaves.  Time  has  since  shown  that  Emancipation, 
which  in  its  broad  views  included  the  interests  of  both 
white  and  black,  was  by  far  the  wisest  for  both.  In 
Missouri,  these  differences  of  opinion  were  fomented 
by  certain  occurrences  into  painful  discord  among 
the  Union-men.  In  1861,  General  Fremont,  having 
military  command  of  the  state,  proclaimed  that  he 
assumed  the  administrative  power,  thus  entirely 
superseding  the  civil  rulers.  General  Fremont,  it 
will  be  remembered,  also  endeavoured,  by  freeing  the 
slaves,  to  take  to  himself  functions  belonging  only  to 
the  President.  He,  like  General  M'Clellan,  affected 
great  state,  and  before  his  removal  (November  2nd, 
1863),  was  censured  by  the  War  Office  for  lavish 
and  unwarranted  expenditures,  which  was  significant 
indeed  in  the  most  extravagantly  expensive  war  of 
modern  times.  Fremont's  removal  greatly  angered  his 
friends,  especially  the  Germans.  On  the  other  hand, 
General  Halleck,  who  succeeded  General  Hunter — who 
had  been  locum  tenens  for  only  a  few  days  after 
Fremont's  removal — made  bad  worse  by  excluding 
fugitive  slaves  from  his  lines.  All  this  was  followed  by 
dissensions  between  General  Gamble,  a  gradual  Eman 
cipationist,  and  General  Curtis,  who  had  been  placed 
in  command  (September  ipth,  1863)  when  the  states 
of  Missouri,  Kansas,  and  Arkansas  were  formed  into 


170  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

a  military  district.  During  the  summer,  the  Union 
army  being  withdrawn  to  Tennessee,  Kansas  and 
Missouri  were  overrun  by  bands  of  guerillas,  under 
an  infamous  desperado  named  Colonel  Quantrill, 
whose  sole  aim  was  robbery,  murder,  and  outrage, 
and  who  made  a  speciality  of  burning  churches. 
This  brigand,  acting  under  Confederate  orders,  thus 
destroyed  the  town  of  Lawrence,  Kansas.  For  this, 
Government  was  blamed,  and  the  dissensions  grew 
worse.  Therefore,  General  Curtis  was  removed,  and 
General  Schofield  put  in  his  place,  which'gave  rise  to 
so  many  protests,  that  President  Lincoln,  at  length 
fairly  roused,  answered  one  of  these  remonstrances 
as  follows  : — 

"  It  is  very  painful  to  me  that  you  in  Missouri  can  not 
or  will  not  settle  your  factional  quarrel  among  yourselves. 
I  have  been  tormented  with  it  beyond  endurance,  for 
months,  by  both  sides.  Neither  side  pays  the  least  respect 
to  my  appeals  to  your  reason.  I  am  now  compelled  to 
take  hold  of  the  case. 

"A.  LINCOLN." 

These  unreasonable  quarrels  lasted  for  a  long  time, 
and  were  finally  settled  by  the  appointment  of 
General  Rosencranz.  No  fault  was  found  with 
General  Schofield — in  fact,  in  his  first  order,  General 
Rosencranz  paid  a  high  tribute  to  his  predecessor,  for 
the  admirable  state  in  which  he  found  the  business 
of  the  department.  So  the  difficulties  died.  In  the 


Troubles  in  Missouri. 


President's  letter  to  General  Schofield,  when  ap 
pointed,  he  had  said,  "  If  both  factions,  or  neither, 
abuse  you,  you  will  probably  be  about  right.  Beware 
of  being  assailed  by  one  and  praised  by  the  other." 
Judged  by  his  own  rule  in  this  case,  says  Holland, 
the  President  was  as  nearly  right  as  he  could  be,  for 
both  sides  abused  him  thoroughly.  It  may  be  added 
that,  having  scolded  him  to  their  hearts'  content,  and 
declared  him  to  be  a  copy  of  all  the  Neros,  Domi- 
tians,  and  other  monsters  of  antiquity,  the  Missouri 
Unionists  all  wheeled  into  line  and  voted  unanimously 
for  him  at  the  next  Presidential  election,  as  if  nothing 
had  happened. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

• 

Proclamation  of  Amnesty — Lincoln's  Benevolence — His  Self-reliance — 
Progress  of  the  Campaign— The  Summer  of  1864 — Lincoln's  Speech  at 
Philadelphia — Suffering  in  the  South — Raids — Sherman's  March— *G rant's 
Position — Battle  of  the  Wilderness — Siege  of  Petersburg— Chambersburg 
— Naval  Victories — Confederate  Intrigues — Presidential  Election — Lincoln 
Re-elected — Atrocious  attempts  of  the  Confederates. 

THE  American  political  year  begins  with  the 
meeting  of  Congress,  which  in  1863  assembled 
on  Monday,  December  7th.  On  the  pth,  President 
Lincoln  sent  to  both  Houses  a  message,  in  which 
he  set  forth  the  principal  events  of  the  year,  as 
regarded  the  interests  of  the  American  people. 
The  previous  day  he  had  issued  a  proclamation  of 
amnesty  to  all  those  engaged  in  the  rebellion,  who 
"should  take  an  oath  to  support,  protect,  and  defend 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  the  union 
of  the  states  under  it,  with  the  Acts  of  Congress 
passed  during  the  rebellion,  and  the  proclamations  of 
the  President  concerning  slaves."  From  this  amnesty 
those  were  excepted  who  held  high  positions  in  the 
civil  or  military  service  of  the  rebels,  or  who  had  left 
similar  positions  in  the  Union  to  join  the  enemy. 
It  also  declared  that  whenever,  in  any  of  the  rebel 
states,  a  number  of  persons,  not  less  than  one-tenth 
of  the  qualified  voters,  should  take  this  oath  and 


Lincoln's  Kindness.  173 

establish  a  state  government  which  should  be  repub 
lican,  it  should  be  recognised  as  the  government  of 
the  state.  On  the  24th  March,  he  issued  a  proclama 
tion  following  this,  in  which  he  defined  more  closely 
the  cases  in  which  rebels  were  to  be  pardoned.  He 
allowed  personal  application  to  himself  in  all  cases. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  of  so  gentle  a  disposition  that  he 
seldom  refused  to  sign  a  pardon,  and  a  weeping 
widow  or  orphan  could  always  induce  him  to  pardon 
even  the  worst  malefactors.  The  manner  in  which 
he  would  mingle  his  humorous  fancies,  not  only  with 
serious  business,  but  with  almost  tragic  incidents, 
was  very  peculiar.  Once  a  poor  old  man  from 
Tennessee  called  to  beg  for  the  life  of  his  son,  who 
was  under  sentence  of  death  for  desertion.  He 
showed  his  papers,  and  the  President,  taking  them 
kindly,  said  he  would  examine  them,  and  answer  the 
applicant  the  next  day.  The  old  man,  in  an  agony 
of  anxiety,  with  tears  streaming,  cried,  "  To-morrow 
may  be  too  late  !  My  son  is  under  sentence  of  death. 
It  must  be  done  now,  or  not  at  all"  The  President 
looked  sympathetically  into  the  old  man's  face,  took 
him  by  the  hands,  and  pensively  said,  "  That  puts  me 
in  mind  of  a  little  story.  Wait  a  bit — I'll  tell  it. 

"  Once  General   Fisk  of  Missouri  was  a  Colonel, 

and   he   despised    swearing.      When    he   raised    his 

.regiment  in  Missouri,  he  proposed  to  his  men  that  he 

should  do  all  the  profanity  in  it.     They  agreed,  and 


174  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

for  a  long  time  not  a  solitary  swear  was  heard  among 
them.  But  there  was  an  old  teamster  named  John 
Todd,  who,  cne  day  when  driving  his  mules  over  a 
very  bad  road,  and  finding  them  unusually  obstinate, 
could  not  restrain  himself,  and  burst  into  a  tremen 
dous  display  of  ground  and  lofty  swearing.  This 
was  overheard  by  the  Colonel,  who  at  once  brought 
John  to  book.  '  Didn't  you  promise,'  he  said,  indig 
nantly,  'that  I  was  to  do  all  the  swearing  of  the 
regiment?'  'Yes,  I  did,  Colonel,'  he  replied;  'but 
the  truth  is,  the  swearing  had  to  be  done  then,  or  not 
at  all — and  you  weren't  there  to  do  it.'  Well,"  con 
cluded  Mr.  Lincoln,  as  he  took  up  a.  pen,  "it  seems 
that  this  pardon  has  to  be  done  now,  or  not  at  all, 
like  Todd's  swearing ;  and,  for  fear  of  a  mistake,"  he 
added,  with  a  kindly  twinkle  in  his  eye,  "  I  guess 
we'll  do  it  at  cnce."  Saying  this,  he  wrote  a  few 
lines,  which  caused  the  old  man  to  shed  more  tears 
when  he  read  them,  for  the  paper  held  the  pardon  of 
his  son.  Once,  and  once  only,  was  President  Lincoln 
known  to  sternly  and  promptly  refuse  mercy.  This 
was  to  a  man  who  had  been  a  slave-trader,  and  who, 
after  his  term  of'  imprisonment  had  expired,  was 
still  kept  in  jail  for  a  fine  of  1000  dollars.  He  fully 
acknowledged  his  guilt,  and  was  very  touching  in  his 
appeal  on  paper,  but  Lincoln  was  unmoved.  "  I 
could  forgive  the  foulest  murder  for  such  an  appeal," 
he  said,  "  for  it  is  my  weakness  to  be  too  easily  moved 


Anecdote  of  Lincoln.  175 

by  appeals  for  mercy ;  but  the  man  who  could  go  to 
Africa,  and  rob  her  of  her  children,  and  sell  them  into 
endless  bondage,  with  no  other  motive  than  that  of 
getting  dollars  and  cents,  is  so  much  worse  than  the 
most  depraved  murderer,  that  he  can  never  receive 
pardon  at  my  hands.  No ;  he  may  rot  in  jail  before 
be  shall  have  liberty  by  any  act  of  mine."  On  one 
occasion,  when  a  foolish  young  fellow  was  condemned 
to  death  for  not  joining  his  regiment,  his  friends  went 
with  a  pardon,  which  they  begged  the  President  to 
sign.  They  found  him  before  a  table,  of  which  every 
inch  was  deeply  covered  with  papers.  Mr.  Lincoln 
listened  to  their  request,  and  proceeded  to  another 
table,  where  there  was  room  to  write.  "  Do  you 
know,"  he  said,  as  he  held  the  document  of  life  or 
death  in  his  hand,  "  that  table  puts  me  in  mind  of  a 
little  story  of  the  Patagonians.  They  open  oysters 
and  eat  them,  and  throw  the  shells  out  of  the  window 
till  the  pile  gets  higher  than  the  house,  and  then  " — 
he  said  this,  writing  his  signature,  and  handing  them 
the  paper — "  they  move'' 

Holland  tells  us  that,  in  a  letter  to  him,  a  personal 
friend  of  the  President  said,  "  I  called  on  him  one  day 
in  the  earlier  part  of  the  war.  He  had  just  written  a 
pardon  for  a  young  man  who  had  been  sentenced  to 
be  shot  for  sleeping  at  his  post  as  sentinel.  He 
remarked,  as  he  read  it  to  me,  "  I  could  not  think  of 
going  into  eternity  with  the  blood  of  that  poor  young 


175  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

man  on  my  skirts."  Then  he  added,  "  It  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  a  boy  raised  on  a  farm,  probably  in 
the  habit  of  going  to  bed  at  dark,  should,  when 
required  to  watch,  fall  asleep ;  and  I  cannot  consent 
to  shoot  him  for  such  an  act."  This  story  has  a 
touching  continuation  in  the  fact  that  the  dead  body 
of  this  youth  was  found  among  the  slain  on  the  field 
of  Fredericksburg,  wearing  next  his  heart  a  photo 
graph  of  the  great  President,  beneath  which  was 
written,  God  bless  President  Lincoln.  Once,  when  a 
General  went  to  Washington  to  urge  the  execution 
of  twenty-four  deserters,  believing  that  the  army  was 
in  danger  from  the  frequency  of  desertion,  President 
Lincoln  replied,  "  General,  there  are  already  too  many 
weeping  widows  in  the  United  States.  For  God's 
sake,  don't  ask  me  to  add  to  the  number,  for  I  won't 
do  it." 

It  is  certain  that  every  man  who  knew  anything  of 
the  inner  workings  of  American  politics,  or  of  Cabinet 
secrets,  during  the  war,  will  testify  that  no  President 
ever  did  so  much  himself,  and  relied  as  little  on 
others,  as  Lincoln.  The  most  important  matters  were 
decided  by  him  alone.  He  would  listen  to  his 
Cabinet,  or  to  anybody,  and  shrewdly  avail  himself 
of  information  or  of  ideas,  but  no  human  being  ever 
had  the  slightest  personal  influence  on  him.  Others 
might  look  up  the  decisions  and  precedents,  or  sug 
gest  the  legal  axioms  for  him,  but  he  invariably 


His  Diplomatic  Ability.  177 

managed  the  case,  though  with  all  courtesy  and 
deference  to  his  diplomatic  junior  counsel.  He  was 
brought  every  day  into  serious  argument  with  the 
wisest,  shrewdest,  and  most  experienced  men,  both 
foreign  and  American,  but  his  own  intelligence 
invariably  gave  him  the  advantage.  And  it  is  not 
remarkable  that  the  man  who  had  been  too  much 
for  Judge  Douglas  should  hold  his  own  with  any  one. 
While  he  was  President,  his  wonderful  powers  of 
readily  acquiring  the  details  of  any  subject  were 
thoroughly  tested,  and  as  President,  he  perfected  the 
art  of  dealing  with  men.  One  of  his  French 
biographers,  amazed  at  the  constantly  occurring 
proofs  of  his  personal  influence,  assures  his  readers 
that,  "  during  the  war,  Lincoln  showed  himself  an 
organiser  of  the  first  class.  A  new  Carnot,  he  created 
armies  by  land  and  navies  by  sea,  raised  militia, 
appointed  generals,  directed  public  affairs,  defended 
them  by  law,  and  overthrew  the  art  of  maritime  war 
by  building  and  launching  his  terrible  monitors.  He 
showed  himself  a  finished  diplomatist,  and  protected 
the  interests  of  every  one.  His  success  attested  the 
mutual  confidence  of  people  and  President  in  their 
common  patriotism.  The  emancipation  of  the  slaves 
crowned  his  grand  policy."  If  some  of  these  details 
appear  slightly  exaggerated,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  all  this  and  more  appears  to  be  literally  true  to 
any  foreigner  who,  in  studying  Lincoln's  life,  learns 


i/8  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

what  a  prodigious  amount  of  work  was  executed  by 
him,  and  to  what  a  degree  he  impressed  his  own 
mind  on  everything.  He  either  made  a  shrewd 
remark  or  told  a  story  with  every  signature  to  any 
remarkable  paper,  and  from  that  day  the  document, 
the  deed,  and  the  story  were  all  remembered  in 
common. 

On  the  1st  February,  1864,  the  President  issued 
an  order  for  a  draft  for  500,000  men,  to  serve  for 
three  years  or  during  the  war,  and  (March  I4th)  again 
for  200,000  men  for  service  in  the  army  and  navy. 
On  the  26th  February,  1864,  General  Grant,  in  the 
words  of  the  President,  received  "  the  expression  of 
the  nation's  approbation  for  what  he  had  done,  and 
its  reliance  on  him  for  what  remained  to  do  in  the 
existing  great  struggle,"  by  being  appointed  Lieu- 
tenant-General  of  the  army  of  the  United  States.1 
It  was  owing  to  Mr.  Lincoln  that  General  Grant 
received  the  full  direction  of  military  affairs,  limited 
by  no  annoying  conditions.  He  at  once  entered  on 
a  vigorous"  course  of  action.  "The  armies  of  Eastern 
Tennessee  and  Virginia,"  says  Brockett,  "  were  heavily 
increased  by  new  levies,  and  by  an  effective  system 
of  concentration  ;  and  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Mis 
sissippi  it  soon  became  evident  that,  under  the 

1  This  honour  had  only  been  twice  conferred  before — once  on 
Washington,  and  once  by  brevet  on  General  W.  Scott. — Badeau's 
"Life  of  Grant." 


The  Dark  Summer  of  1864.  179 

inspiration  of  a  great  controlling  mind,  everything 
was  being  placed  in  condition  for  dealing  a  last 
effective  blow  at  the  already  tottering  Confederacy." 
The  plan  was  that  Sherman  should  take  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  and  then,  in  succession,  Savannah,  Colum 
bia,  Charleston,  Wilmington,  and  then  join  Grant. 
Thomas  was  to  remain  in  the  South-West  to  engage 
with  Hood  and  Johnston,  while  Grant,  with  his 
Lieutenants,  Meade,  Sheridan,  and  Hancock,  were  to 
subdue  General  Lee  and  capture  Richmond,  the  rebel 
capital. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  confidence  of  the  country 
in  General  Grant,  and  the  degree  to  which  the  Con 
federacy  had  been  compressed  by  the  victories  of 
1863,  the  summer  of  1864  was  the  gloomiest  period 
of  the  war  since  the  dark  days  of  1862.  In  spite  of 
all  that  had  been  done,  it  seemed  as  if  the  war  would 
never  end.  The  Croakers,  whether  Union-men  or 
Copperheads,1  made  the  world  miserable  by  their 
complaints.  And  it  is  certain  that,  in  the  words  of 
General  Badeau,  "the  political  and  the  military 
situation  of  affairs  were  equally  grave.  The  rebellion 
had  assumed  proportions  that  transcend  comparison. 
The  Southern  people  seemed  all  swept  into  the 
current,  and  whatever  dissent  had  originally  existed 

1  Those  who  sympathised  with  the  South  were  called  Copperheads, 
after  the  deadly  and  treacherous  snake  of  that  name  common  in  the 
Western  and  Southern  United  States. 


i8o  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

among  them,  was  long  since,  to  outside  apprehension, 
swallowed  up  in  the  maelstrom  of  events.  The 
Southern  snake,  if  scotched,  was  not  killed,  and 
seemed  to  have  lost  none  of  its  vitality.  In  the 
Eastern  theatre  of  war,  no  real  progress  had  been 
made  during  three  disastrous  years.  Gettysburg  had 
saved  Philadelphia  and  Washington,  but  even  this 
victory  had  not  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  Lee ; 
for  in  the  succeeding  January,  the  rebel  chief,  with 
undiminished  legions  and  audacity,  still  lay  closer  to 
the  national  capital  than  to  Richmond,  and  Washing 
ton  was  in  nearly  as  great  danger  as  before  the  first 
Bull  Run."  General  Grant's  first  steps,  though  not 
failures,  did  little  to  encourage  the  North.  It  is  true 
that,  advancing  on  the  3rd  of  May,  and  fighting 
terribly  every  step  from  the  Rapidan  to  the  James, 
he  "  had  indeed  flanked  Lee's  army  from  one  position 
after  another,  until  he  found  himself,  by  the  1st  June, 
before  Richmond — but  he  had  lost  100,000  men ! 
Here  the  enemy  stood  fast  at  bay."  The  country 
promptly  made  up  his  immense  losses  ;  but  by  this 
time  there  was  a  vacant  chair  in  almost  every  house 
hold,  and  the  weary  of  waiting  exclaimed  every  hour, 
"  How  long,  O  Lord  !  how  long  ?" 

Two  things,  however,  were  contributing  at  this 
time  to  cheer  the  North.  The  lavish  and  extrava 
gant  manner  in  which  the  Government  gave  out 
contracts  to  support  its  immense  army,  and  the 


Revival  of  Prosperity.  181 

liberality  with  which  it  was  fed,  clothed,  and  paid, 
though  utterly  reprehensible  from  an  economical 
point  of  view,  had  at  least  the  good  effect  of  stimu 
lating  manufactures  and  industry.  In  the  gloomiest 
days  of  1 86 1-2,  when  landlords  were  glad  to  induce 
respectable  tenants  to  occupy  their  houses  rent-free, 
and  poverty  stared  us  all  in  the  face,  the  writer 
had  predicted,  in  the  "Knickerbocker"  and  "Con 
tinental  "  Magazines,  that,  in  a  short  time,  the  war 
would  bring  to  the  manufacturing  North  such  a 
period  of  prosperity  as  it  had  never  experienced, 
while  in  the  South  there  would  be  a  corresponding 
wretchedness.  The  prediction,  which  was  laughed 
at,  was  fulfilled  to  the  letter.  Before  the  end  of  the 
war,  there  was  a  blue  army  coat  not  only  on  every 
soldier,  but  on  almost  every  other  man  in  America, 
for  the  rebels  clad  themselves  from  our  battle-fields, 
and,  in  some  mysterious  manner,  immense  quantities 
of  army  stores  found  their  way  into  civilian  hands. 
All  over  the  country  there  was  heard  not  only  the 
busy  hum  of  factories,  but  the  sound  of  the  hammer, 
as  new  buildings  were  added  to  them.  Paper-money 
was  abundant,  and  speculation  ran  riot.  All  this 
made  a  grievous  debt ;  but  it  is  certain  that  the 
country  got  its  money's  worth  in  confidence  and 
prosperity.  When,  however,  despite  this,  people 
began  to  be  downcast,  certain  clergymen,  with  all  the 
women,  organised  on  an  immense  scale  a  Sanitary 


1 82  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Commission,  the  object  of  which  was  to  contribute 
comforts  to  the  soldiers  in  the  field.  To  aid  this 
benevolent  scheme,  enormous  **'  Sanitary  Fairs  "  were 
held  in  the  large  cities,  and  these  were  carried  out  in 
such  a  way  that  everybody  was  induced  to  contribute 
money  or  personal  exertions  in  their  aid.  These 
fairs,  in  mere  magnitude,  were  almost  like  the  colossal 
Expositions  with  which  the  world  has  become  familiar, 
but  were  more  varied  as  regards  entertainment. 
That  of  Philadelphia  was  the  Great  Central  Sanitary 
Fair,  where  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  wife  were  present, 
on  the  :6th  of  June,  1864.  Here  I  saw  Mr.  Lincoln 
for  the  first  time.  The  impression  which  he  made 
on  me  was  that  of  an  American  who  is  reverting  to 
the  Red  Indian  type — a  very  common  thing,  indeed, 
in  the  South-West  among  pure-blooded  whites.  His 
brown  complexion  and  high  cheek-bones  were  very 
Indian.  And,  like  the  Indian  chiefs,  he  soon  proved 
that  he  had  the  gift  of  oratory  when  he  addressed 
the  multitude  in  these  words — 

"  I  suppose  that  this  toast  is  intended  to  open  the  way 
for  me  to  say  something.  War  at  the  best  is  terrible,  and 
this  of  ours,  in  its  magnitude  and  duration,  is  one  of  the 
most  terrible  the  world  has  ever  known.  It  has  destroyed 
property,  destroyed  life,  and  ruined  homes.  It  has  pro 
duced  a  national  debt  and  a  taxation  unprecedented  in  the 
history  of  the  country.  It  has  caused  mourning  among  us 
until  the  heavens  may  almost  be  said  to  be  hung  in  black. 


Speech  at  the  Sanitary  Fair.         183 

And  yet  it  continues.  It  has  had  accompaniments  not 
before  known  in  the  history  of  the  world — I  mean  the 
Sanitary  and  Christian  Commissions  with  their  labours  for 
the  relief  of  the  soldiers,  and  these  fairs,  first  begun  at 
Chicago,  and  next  held  in  Boston,  Cincinnati,  and  other 
cities.  The  motives  and  objects  that  lie  at  the  bottom  of 
them  are  worthy  of  the  most  that  we  can  do  for  the  soldier 
who  goes  to  fight  the  battles  of  his  country.  From  the 
tender  hand  of  woman,  very  much  is  done  for  the  soldier, 
continually  reminding  him  of  the  care  and  thought  for  him 
at  home.  The  knowledge  that  he  is  not  forgotten  is  grateful 
to  his  heart.  Another  view  of  these  institutions  is  worthy 
of  thought.  They  are  voluntary  contributions,  giving  proof 
that  the  national  resources  are  not  at  all  exhausted,  and 
that  the  national  patriotism  will  sustain  us  through  all.  It 
is  a  pertinent  question,  When  is  this  war  to  end?  I  do  not 
wish  to  name  a  day  when  it  will  end,  lest  the  end  should 
not  come  at  any  given  time.  We  accepted  this  war,  and 
did  not  begin  it.  We  accepted  it  for  an  object,  and  when 
that  object  is  accomplished,  the  war  will  end;  and  I  hope  to 
God  that  it  never  will  end  until  that  object  is  accomplished. 
Speaking  of  the  present  campaign,  General  Grant  is  reported 
to  have  said,  *  I  am  going  to  fight  it  out  on  this  line  if  it 
takes  all  summer.'  This  war  has  taken  three  years;  it  was 
begun,  or  accepted,  upon  the  line  of  restoring  the  national 
authority  over  the  whole  national  domain ;  and  for  the 
American  people,  as  far  as  my  knowledge  enables  me  to 
speak,  I  say  we  are  going  through  on  this  line  if  it  takes 
three  years  more.  I  have  not  been  in  the  habit  of  making 
predictions  in  regard  to  the  war,  but  now  I  am  almost 
tempted  to  hazard  one.  I  will.  It  is  that  Grant  is  thi* 


184  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

evening  in  a  position,  with  Meade,  and  Hancock  of  Penn 
sylvania,  whence  he  can  never  be  dislodged  by  the  enemy 
until  Richmond  is  taken.  If  I  shall  discover  that  General 
Grant  may  be  greatly  facilitated  in  the  capture  of  Richmond 
by  briefly  pouring  to  him  a  large  number  of  armed  men  at 
the  briefest  notice,  will  you  go?  (Cries  of  "Yes.")  Will 
you  march  on  with  him?  (Cries  of  '-Yes,  yes.")  Then  I 
shall  call  upon  you  when  it  is  necessary.  Stand  ready,  for  I 
am  waiting  for  the  chance." 

The  hint  given  in  this  speech  was  better  understood 
when,  during  the  next  month,  a  call  was  made  for 
500,000  more  men.  These  Sanitary  Fairs,  and  the 
presence  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  greatly  revived  the  spirits 
of  the  Union  party.  They  had  learned  by  this 
time  that  their  leader  was  not  the  vulgar  Boor,  Ape, 
or  Gorilla  which  the  Southern  and  Democratic  press 
persisted  to  the  last  in  calling  him,  but  a  great,  kind- 
hearted  man,  whose  sympathy  for  their  sorrows  was 
only  surpassed  by  the  genius  with  which  he  led  them 
out  of  their  troubles.  The  writer  once  observed  of 
Dr.  George  M'Clellan,  father  of  the  General,  that 
while  no  surgeon  in  America  equalled  him  in  coolness 
and  daring  in  performing  the  most  dangerous  opera 
tions,  no  woman  could  show  more  pity  or  feelingr 
than  he  would  in  binding  up  a  child's  cut  finger  ; 
and,  in  like  manner,  Abraham  Lincoln,  while  calmly 
dealing  at  one  time  with  the  ghastly  wounds  of  his 
country,  never  failed  to  tenderly  aid  and  pity  the 
lesser  wounds  of  individuals. 


Sufferings  in  the  South.  185 


But  if  the  North  was  at  this  season  in  sorrow,  those 
in  the  South  had  much  greater  cause  to  be  so,  and 
they  all  deserved  great  credit  for  the  unflinching 
manner  in  which  they  endured  their  privations. 
From  the  very  beginning,  they  had  wanted  many 
comforts  ;  they  were  soon  without  the  necessaries  of 
civilised  life.  They  manufactured  almost  nothing, 
and  for  such  goods  as  came  in  by  blockade-running 
enormous  prices  were  paid.  The  upper  class,  who 
had  made  the  war,  were  dependent  on  their  servants 
to  a  degree  which  is  seldom  equalled  in  Europe  ;  and, 
like  those  ants  which  require  ant-slaves  to  feed  them, 
and  to  which  their  Richmond  "sociologists"  had 
pointed  as  a  natural  example,  they  began  to  starve 
as  their  sable  attendants  took  unto  themselves  the 
wings  of  Freedom  and  flew  away.  In  their  army, 
desertion  and  straggling  were  so  common,  that  the 
rebel  Secretary  of  War  reported  that  the  effective 
force  was  not  more  than  half  the  men  whose  names 
appeared  on  the  rolls.  Their  paper-money  depreciated 
to  one-twentieth  its  nominal  value.  There  were  great 
failures  of  crops  in  the  South  ;  the  Government  made 
constant  seizures  of  provisions  and  cattle ;  and  as 
the  war  had  been  confined  to  their  own  territory, 
the  population  were  harried  by  both  friend  and 
foe. 

Events  were  now  in  progress  which  were  destined 
to  utterly  ruin  the  Confederacy.  These  were  the 


1 86  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

gig-antic  Northern  incursions,  which,  whether  success 
ful  or  not  in  their  strategic  aims,  exhausted  the 
country,  and  set  the  slaves  free  by  thousands.  Early 
in  February,  General  Gillmore's  attempt  to  establish 
Union  government  in  Florida  had  failed.  So,  too, 
did  Sherman,  proceeding  from  Vicksburg,  and  Smith, 
leaving  Memphis,  fail  in  their  plan  of  effecting  a 
junction,  although  the  destruction  which  they  caused 
in  the  enemy's  country  was  enormous.  In  the  same 
month,  Kilpatrick  made  a  raid  upon  Richmond,  which 
was  eminently  successful  as  regarded  destroying 
railways  and  canals.  In  March,  General  Banks 
'undertook  an  expedition  to  the  Red  River,  of  which 
it  may  be  briefly  said  that  he  inflicted  much  damage, 
but  received  more.  In  April,  Fort  Pillow,  on  the 
Mississippi,  held  by  the  Union  General  Boyd,  was 
treacherously  captured  by  the  rebel  General  Forrest, 
by  means  of  a  flag  of  truce.  After  the  garrison  of 
300  white  men  and  350  black  soldiers,  with  many 
women  and  children,  had  formally  surrendered  and 
given  up  their  arms,  a  horrible  scene  of  indiscriminate 
murder  ensued.  A  committee  of  investigation, 
ordered  by  Congress,  reported  that  "men,  women,  and 
little  children  were  deliberately  shot  down  and  hacked 
to  pieces  with  sabres.  Officers  and  men  seemed  to  vie 
with  each  other  in  the  devilish  work.  They  entered 
the  hospitals  and  butchered  the  sick.  Men  were 
nailed  by  their  hands  to  the  floors  and  sides  of  build- 


Confederate  Atrocities.  187 

ings,  and  then  the  buildings  set  on  fire."  Some  negroes 
escaped  by  feigning  death,  and  by  digging  out  from  the 
thin  covering  of  earth  thrown  over  them  for  burial. 
The  rebel  press  exulted  over  these  barbarities, 
pleading  the  terrible  irritation  which  the  South  felt 
at  finding  her  own  slaves  armed  against  her.  Investi 
gation  proved  that  this  horrible  massacre  was  in 
pursuance  of  a  pre-conceived  policy,  which  had  been 
deliberately  adopted  in  the  hope  of  frightening  out 
of  the  Union  service  not  only  negroes,  but  loyal  white 
Southerners.  From  the  beginning  of  the  war,  the 
rebels  were  strangely  persuaded  that  they  had  the 
privilege  of  inflicting  severities  which  should  not  be 
retaliated  upon  them.  Thus  at  Charleston,  in  order 
to  check  the  destructive  fire  of  the  Union  guns,  they 
placed  Northern  officers  in  chains  within  reach  of  the 
shells,  and  complacently  notified  our  forces  that  they 
had  done  so.  Of  course  an  equal  number  of  rebel 
officers  of  equal  rank  were  at  once  exposed  to  the 
Confederate  fire,  and  this  step,  which  resulted  in 
stopping  such  an  inhuman  means  of  defence,  was 
regarded  with  great  indignation  by  the  South.  But 
it  was  no  unusual  thing  with  rebels  to  kill  helpless 
captives.  A  horrible  instance  occurred  (April  2Oth, 
1864)  at  the  capture  of  Fort  Plymouth,  N.  C.,  where 
white  and  black  troops  were  murdered  in  cold  blood 
after  surrendering.  These  deeds  filled  the  country 
with  horror,  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  was  "deeply 


1 88  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

touched,"  publicly  avowed  retaliation,  which  he  never 
inflicted. 

The  advance  of  Sherman  towards  the  sea  was  not 
exactly  what  Jefferson  Davis  predicted  (September 
22nd,  1864)  it  would  be.  Sherman's  force,  he  said, 
"would  meet  the  fate  of  the  army  of  the  French 
Empire  in  the  retreat  from  Moscow.  Our  cavalry 
will  destroy  his  army  .  .  .  and  the  Yankee 
General  will  escape  with  only  a  body-guard."  The 
events  of  this  march  are  thus  summed  up  by  Holland. 
Sherman  was  opposed  by  Johnston,  who,  with  a 
smaller  army,  had  the  advantage  of  very  strong 
positions  and  a  knowledge  of  the  country,  he  moving 
towards  supplies,  while  Sherman  left  his  behind  him. 
The  Federal  General  flanked  Johnston  out  of  his 
works  at  Buzzard's  Roost ;  and  then,  fighting  and 
flanking  from  day  to  day,  he  drove  him  from  Dalton 
to  Atlanta.  To  do  this  he  had  to  force  "  a  difficult 
path  through  mountain  defiles  and  across  great 
rivers,  overcoming  or  turning  formidable  entrenched 
positions,  defended  by  a  veteran  army  commanded 
by  a  cautious  and  skilful  leader."  At  Atlanta, 
Johnston  was  superseded  by  Hood,  and  Hood 
assumed  the  offensive  with  little  luck,  since  in  three 
days  he  lost  half  his  army,  and  then  got  behind  the 
defences  of  Atlanta.  Here  he  remained,  surrounded 
by  the  toils  which  Sherman  was  weaving  round  him 
with  consummate  skill,  and  which,  as  Sherman 


Sherman  '  s  March.  189 

admits  in  his  admirably  written  report,1  were  patiently 
and  skilfully  eluded.  But  on  the  2nd  September, 
Atlanta  fell  into  Sherman's  hands.  The  aggregate 
loss  of  the  Union  army  from  Chattanooga  to  Atlanta 
was  in  all  more  than  30,000 — that  of  the  rebels  above 
40,000.  Then  Sherman  proposed  to  destroy  Atlanta 
and  its  roads,  and,  sending  back  his  wounded,  to 
move  through  Georgia,  "smashing  things  to  the  sea." 
And  this  he  did  most  effectually.  Hood  retreated  to 
Nashville,  where  he  was  soon  destined  to  be  conquered 
by  Thomas. 

On  the  1 2th  November,  Sherman  began  his  march. 
The  writer  has  heard  soldiers  who  were  in  it  call  it  a 
picnic.  In  a  month  he  passed  through  to  Savannah, 
which  was  held  by  15,000  men;  by  the  2oth  it  was 
taken;  and  on  the  2ist  General  Sherman  sent  to 
President  Lincoln  this  despatch,  "  I  beg  to  present 
to  you  as  a  Christmas  gift  the  city  of  Savannah,  with 
150  guns,  plenty  of  ammunition,  and  about  25,000 
bales  of  cotton."  In  this  march  he  carried  away  more 
than  10,000  horses  and  mules,  and  set  free  a  vast 
number  of  slaves.  Then,  turning  towards  the  North, 
the  grand  North-Western  army  co-operated  with 
Grant,  "crushing  the  fragments  of  the  rebellion 
between  the  opposing  forces." 
•  Meanwhile,  Hood,  subdued  by  Sherman,  had,  with 

1  Sherman's  Report,  1865;  also,  Report  of  Secretary  of  War,  1865. 


190  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

an  army  of  nearly  60,000  men,  advanced  to  the 
North,  where  he  was  followed  by  General  Thomas. 
On  November  2Oth,  Hood,  engaging  with  Schofield, 
who  was  under  Thomas,  was  defeated  in  a  fierce  and 
bloody  battle  at  Franklin,  in  which  he  lost  6000  men. 
On  the  1 5th  December,  the  battle  of  Nashville  took 
place,  and  lasted  two  days,  the  rebels  being  utterly 
defeated,  though  they  fought  with  desperate  courage. 
They  lost  more  than  4000  prisoners,  fifty-three  pieces 
of  artillery,  and  thousands  of  small  arms. 

The  close  of  December,  1864,  found  the  Union  armies 
in  this  position — "  Sheridan  had  defeated  Early  in  the 
Shenandoah  Valley ;  Sherman  was  at  Savannah, 
organising  further  raids  up  the  coast ;  Hood  was 
crushed  ;  Early 's  army  was  destroyed ;  Price  had 
been  routed  in  Missouri ;  Cawley  was  operating  for 
the  capture  of  Mobile ;  and  Grant,  with  the  grip  of  a 
bull-dog,  held  Lee  in  Richmond."  The  Union  cause 
was  greatly  advanced,  while  over  all  the  South  a 
darkness  was  gathering  as  of  despair.  And  yet,  with 
indomitable  pluck,  they  held  out  for  many  a  month 
afterwards.  And  "  there  was  discord  in  the  councils 
of  the  rebels.  They  began  to  talk  of  using  the 
negroes  as  soldiers.  The  commanding  General 
demanded  this  measure  ;  but  it  was  too  late.  Lee 
was  tied,  and  Sherman  was  turning  his  steps  towards- 
him,  and,  among  the  leaders  of  the  rebellion,  there 
was  a  fearful  looking-out  for  fatal  disasters."  Yet, 


Grant's  Campaign  in  1864.  191 

with  the  inevitable  end  full  in  view,  the  Copperhead 
party,  now  openly  led  by  M'Clellan,  continued  to  cry 
for  "peace  at  any  price,"  and  clamour  that  the  South 
should  be  allowed  to  go  its  way,  and  rule  the  country. 
We  have  seen  how  Grant,  now  at  the  head  of  the 
entire  national  army  of  700,000  men,  had  planned 
in  council  with  Sherman  the  great  Western  campaign, 
and  its  result.  After  this  arrangement,  he  returned 
to  Virginia,  to  conduct  in  person  a  campaign  against 
Lee.  A  letter  which  he  received  at  this  time  from 
President  Lincoln,  and  his  answer,  are  equally 
honourable  to  both.  That  from  Lincoln  was  as 
follows : — 

"EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON, 
"April  30^,  1864. 

"  Not  expecting  to  see  you  before  the  spring  campaign 
opens,  I  wish  to  express  in  this  way  my  entire  satisfaction 
with  what  you  have  done  up  to^this  time,  so  far  as  I  under 
stand  it.  The  particulars  of  your  plans  I  neither  know  nor 
seek  to  know.  You  are  vigilant  and  self-reliant;  and, 
pleased  with  this,  I  wish  not  to  obtrude  any  restraints  or 
constraints  upon  you.  ...  If  there  be  anything  want 
ing  which  it  is  in  my  power  to  give,  do  not  fail  to  let  me 
know  it.  And  now,  with  a  brave  army  and  a  just  cause, 
may  God  sustain  you. 

"A.  LINCOLN." 

General  Grant,  in  his  reply,  expressed  in  the  most 
candid  manner  his  gratitude  that,  from  his  first 
entrance  into  the  service  till  the  day  on  which  he 


192  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

wrote,  he  had  never  had  cause  for  complaint  against 
the  Administration  or  Secretary  of  War  for  embar 
rassing  him  in  any  way ;  that,  on  the  contrary,  he 
had  been  astonished  at  the  readiness  with  which 
everything  had  been  granted  ;  and  that,  should  he  be 
unsuccessful,  the  fault  would  not  be  with  the  Presi 
dent.  The  manliness,  honesty,  and  simple  gratitude 
manifest  in  Grant's  letter,  render  it  one  of  the  most 
interesting  ever  written.  While  M'Clellan  was  in 
command,  Mr.  Lincoln  found  it  necessary  to  super 
vise  ;  after  Grant  led  the  army,  he  felt  that  no 
direction  was  necessary,  and  that  an  iron  wheel  must 
have  a  smooth  way.  To  some  one  inquiring  curiously 
what  General  Grant  intended  to  do,  Mr.  Lincoln 
replied,  "  When  M'Clellan  was  in  the  hole,  I  used  to 
go  up  the  ladder  and  look  in  after  him,  and  see  what 
he  was  about ;  but,  now  this  new  man,  Grant,  has 
pulled  up  the  ladder  and  liauled  tJie  Jiole  in  after  him, 
I  can't  tell  what  he  is  doing." 

On  May  2nd,  1864,  Grant  marched  forward,  and  on 
the  next  night  crossed  the  Rapidan  river.  On  May 
5th  began  that  terrible  series  of  engagements  known 
as  the  Battle  of  the  Wilderness,  which  lasted  for  five 
days.  During  this  conflict  the  Union  General  Wads- 
worth  and  the  brave  Sedgwick,  the  true  hero  of 
Gettysburg,  were  killed.  Fifty-four  thousand  five 
hundred  and  fifty-one  men  were  reported  as  killed, 
wounded,  or  missing  on  the  Union  side,  from  May 


B  loo  dies  t  Battle  of  the  Age.          193 

3rd  to  June  I5th;  Lee's  losses  being  about  32,000. 
There  was  no  decisive  victory,  but  General  Lee  was 
obliged  to  gradually  yield  day  by  day,  while  Grant, 
with  determined  energy,  flanked  him  until  he  took 
refuge  in  Richmond.  At  this  time  there  was  fearful 
excitement  in  the  North,  great  hope,  and  greater 
grief,  but  more  resolve  than  ever.  President  Lincoln 
was  in  great  sorrow  for  such  loss  of  life.  When  he 
saw  the  lines  of  ambulances  miles  in  length  coming 
towards  Washington,  full  of  wounded  men,  he  would 
drive  with  Mrs.  Lincoln  along  the  sad  procession, 
speaking  kind  words  to  the  sufferers,  and  endeavour 
ing  in  many  ways  to  aid  them.  One  day  he  said, 
"  This  Sacrifice  of  life  is  dreadful ;  but  the  Almighty 
has  not  forsaken  me  nor  the  country,  and  we  shall 
surely  succeed." 

Though  the  inflexible  Grant  had  no  idea  of  failure, 
and  though  his  losses  were  promptly  supplied,  he 
was  in  a  very  critical  position,  where  a  false  move 
would  have  imperilled  the  success  of  the  whole  war. 
On  the  1 2th  June,  finding  that  nothing  could  be 
gained  by  directly  attacking  Lee,  he  resolved  to 
assail  his  southern  lines  of  communications.  He 
soon  reached  the  James  river,  and  settled  down  to 
the  siege  of  Petersburg. 

Sherman  had  opened  his  Atlanta  campaign  as 
soon  as  Grant  had  telegraphed  to  him  that  he  had 
crossed  the  Rapidan.  At  the  same  time,  he  had 
N 


194  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

ordered  Sigel  to  advance  through  the  Shenandoah 
towards  Stanton  (Va.),  and  Crook  to  come  up  the 
Kanawha  Valley  towards  Richmond,  but  both  were 
defeated,  while  Butler,  though  he  inflicted  great 
damage  on  the  enemy,  instead  of  capturing  Peters 
burg,  was  himself  "sealed  up,"  as  Grant  said.  "All 
these  flanking  movements  having  failed,  and  Lee 
being  neither  defeated  in  the  open  field  nor  cut  off 
from  Richmond,  the  great  problem  of  the  war  instantly 
narrowed  itself  down  to  the  siege  of  Petersburg,  which 
Grant  began,  and  which,  as  it  will  be  seen,  long  out 
lasted  the  year.  Meanwhile,  terrible  injury  was 
daily  inflicted  on  the  rebels  in  Virginia,  by  the 
numerous  raiding  and  flanking  parties  which,»whether 
conquering  or  conquered,  destroyed  everything,  sweep 
ing  away  villages  and  forests  alike  for  firewood,  as  I 
well  know,  having  seen  miles  of  fences  burned. 

"On  May  i8th,  just  after  the  bloody  struggle  at 
Spottsylvania,  a  spurious  proclamation,  announcing 
that  Grant's  campaign  was  closed,  appointing  a  day 
of  fasting  and  humiliation,  and  ordering  a  new  draft 
for  400,000  men,  appeared  in  the  New  York  'World* 
and  *  Journal  of  Commerce,'  newspapers  avowedly 
hostile  to  the  Administration.  ^  The  other  journals, 
knowing  that  this  was  a  forgery,  refused  to  publish  it. 
By  order  of  the  President,  the  offices  of  these  two 
publications  were  closed ;  and,  this  action  being 
denounced  as  an  outrage  on  the  liberty  of  the  press, 


Rebel  Raids.  195 


Governor  Seymour  attempted  to  have  General  Dix 
and  others  indicted  for  it."  The  real  authors  of  the 
forgery  were  two  men  named  Howard  and  Mallison, 
their  object" being  stock-jobbing  purposes. 

When  General  Sigel  was  defeated,  he  was  relieved 
by  General  Hunter,  who,  at  first  successful,  was  at 
last  obliged  to  retreat  before  the  rebel  Early,  with 
very  great  loss.  This  placed  Hunter  in  such  a 
position  that  he  could  not  protect  Washington. 
Early,  finding  himself  unopposed,  crossed  Maryland, 
plundered  largely,  fought  several  battles  with  the 
militia,  burned  private  houses,  destroyed  the  trains 
on  the  Washington  and  Baltimore  railroads,  and 
threatened  both  cities.  Then  there  was  great 
anxiety  in  the  North,  for  just  at  that  time  Grant  was 
in  the  worst  of  his  great  struggle.  But  when  Early 
was  within  two  miles  of  Baltimore,  he  was  confront 
ed  by  the  6th  Corps  from  the  Potomac,  the  iQth 
from  Louisiana,  and  large  forces  from  Pennsylvania, 
and  driven  back.  During  this  retreat,  he  committed 
a  great  outrage.  Having  entered  Chambersburg, 
Pennsylvania,  a  peaceful,  unfortified  town,  he  de 
manded  100,000  dollars  in  gold,  to  be  paid  within  an 
hour,  and  as  the  money  could  not  be  obtained,  he 
burned  the  place.  Meanwhile,  Sheridan  had  made  his 
famous  raid  round  Lee's  lines,  making  great  havoc 
with  rebel  stores  and  lines  of  transit,  but  in  no 
manner  infringing  on  the  rules  of  honourable  warfare. 


196  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

During  July,  1864,  Admiral  Farragut,  of  the  Union 
navy,  with  a  combination  of  land  and  sea  forces, 
attacked  Mobile.  A  terrible  conflict  ensued,  resulting 
in  the  destruction  of  a  rebel  fleet,  the  capture  of  the 
famous  armour-ship  Tennessee,  four  forts,  and  many 
guns  and  prisoners.  This  victory  was,  however,  the 
only  one  of  any  importance  gained  during  this  battle- 
summer.  It  effectually  closed  one  more  port.  But 
the  feeling  of  depression  was  now  so  great  in  the 
North,  owing  to  the  great  number  of  deaths  in  so 
many  families,  that  President  Lincoln,  by  special 
request  of  the  Congress — which  adjourned  July  4th, 
1864 — issued  a  proclamation,  appointing  a  day  of 
fasting  and  prayer.  But  two  days  after,  public  sorrow 
was  "  much  alleviated,"  says  Raymond,  "  by  the  news 
of  the  sinking  of  the  pirate  Alabama"  (June  ipth)  by 
the  Kearsage,  commanded  by  Winslow.  Yet  for  all 
the  grief  and  gloom  which  existed,  the  Union-men  of 
America  were  never  so  obstinately  determined  to 
resist.  The  temper  of  the  time  was  perfectly  shown 
in  a  pamphlet  by  Dr.  C.  J.  Stille  of  Philadelphia, 
entitled,  "  How  a  Free  People  conduct  a  long  War," 
which  had  an  immense  circulation,  and  which  pointed 
out  in  a  masterly  manner  that  all  wars  waged  by  a 
free  people  for  a  great  principle  have  progressed 
slowly  and  involved  untiring  vigour.  And  President 
Lincoln,  when  asked  what  we  should  do  if  the  war 
should  last  for  years,  replied,  "  We'll  keep  pegging 


Rebel  Intrigues. 


away."  In  short,  the  whole  temper  of  the  North 
was  now  that  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  when  he 
said  at  Waterloo,  "  Hard  pounding  this,  gentlemen  ; 
but  we'll  see  who  can  pound  the  longest." 

During  the  summer  of  1864,  two  self-styled  agents 
of  the  Confederate  Government  appeared  at  Clifton, 
Canada,  in  company  with  W.  Cornell  Jewett,  whom 
Raymond  terms  an  irresponsible  and  half-insane 
adventurer,  and  George  Sanders,  described  as  a 
political  vagabond.  Arnold  states  that  expeditions 
to  rob  and  plunder  banks  over  the  border,  and  to  fire 
Northern  cities,  were  subsequently  clearly  traced  to 
them  ;  "and  that  there  is  evidence  tending  to  connect 
them  with  crimes  of  a  still  graver  and  darker  charac 
ter."  These  men  were  employed  by  the  Confederate 
Government,  to  be  acknowledged  or  repudiated 
according  to  the  success  of  their  efforts.  They 
induced  Horace  Greeley  to  aid  them  in  negotiating 
for  peace,  and  he  wrote  to  President  Lincoln  as 
follows  —  "  I  venture  to  remind  you  that  our  bleeding, 
bankrupt,  almost  dying  country,  also  longs  for  peace  ; 
shudders  at  the  prospect  of  fresh  conscriptions,  of 
further  wholesale  devastations,  and  of  new  rivers  of 
human  blood.  I  fear,  Mr.  President,  you  do  not 
realise  how  intensely  the  people  desire  any  peace, 
consistent  with  the  national  integrity  and  honour." 

To  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  firmly  believed  that  the  best 
means  of  attaining  peace  was  to  conquer  it,  such 


198  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

language  seemed  out  of  place.  Neither  did  he  believe 
that  these  agents  had  any  direct  authority,  as  proved 
to  be  the  case.  After  an  embarrassing  correspon 
dence,  the  President  sent  to  these  "  commissioners  "  a 
message,  to  the  effect  that  any  proposition  embracing 
the  restoration  of  peace,  the  integrity  of  the  whole 
Union,  and  the  abandonment  of  slavery,  would  be 
received  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
if  coming  from  an  authority  that  can  control  the 
armies  now  at  war  with  the  United  States.  In  answer 
to  this,  the  agents  declared,  through  Mr.  Greeley, 
that  it  precluded  negotiation,  and  revealed  in  the 
end  that  the  purpose  of  their  proceedings  had  been 
to  influence  the  Presidential  election.  As  it  was, 
many  were  induced  to  believe  that  Mr.  Lincoln, 
having  had  a  chance  to  conclude  an  honourable 
peace,  had  neglected  it. 

Meanwhile,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  the  cares  of  a  Pre 
sidential  campaign  on  his  hands.  Such  an  election, 
in  the  midst  of  a  civil  war  which  aroused  everywhere 
the  most  intense  and  violent  passions,  was,  as  Arnold 
wrote,  a  fearful  ordeal  through  which  the  country 
must  pass.  At  a  time  when,  of  all  others,  confidence 
in  their  great  leader  was  most  required,  all  the 
slander  of  a  maddened  party  was  let  loose  upon  him. 
General  M'Clellan,  protesting  that  personally  he  was 
in  favour  of  war,  became  the  candidate  of  those  whose 
watchword  was  "  Peace  at  any  price,"  and  who 


The  Presidential  Election.  199 

embraced  all  those  who  sympathised  with  the  South 
and  with  slavery.  Their  "  platform  "  was  simply  a 
treasonable  libel  on  the  Government,  declaring  that, 
"under  the  pretence  of  the  military  necessity  of  a 
war-power  higher  than  the  Constitution,  the  Consti 
tution  itself  has  been  disregarded  in  every  part,  and 
public  liberty  and  private  rights  alike  trodden  down, 
and  the  material  prosperity  of  the  country  essentially 
impaired  ;  and  that  justice,  humanity,  liberty,  and  the 
public  welfare  demand  that  immediate  efforts  be  made 
for  a  cessation  of  hostilities." 

It  was,  therefore,  distinctly  understood  that  the 
question  at  stake  in  this  election  was,  whether  the 
war  should  be  continued.  The  ultra-Abolition  ad 
herents  of  General  Fremont  were  willing  to  see  a 
pro-slavery  President  elected  rather  than  Mr.  Lincoln, 
so  great  was  their  hatred  of  him  and  of  Emancipation, 
and  they  therefore  nominated  their  favourite,  knowing 
that  he  could  not  be  elected,  but  trusting  to  divide 
and  ruin  the  Lincoln  party.  But  this  movement 
came  to  an  inglorious  end.  A  portion  of  the  Repub 
lican  party  offered  the  nomination  for  the  Presidency 
to  General  Grant,  which  that  honourable  soldier 
promptly  declined  in  the  most  straightforward 
manner.  As  the  election  drew  on,  threats  and 
rumours  of  revolution  in  the  North  were  rife,  and 
desperate  efforts  were  made  by  Southern  emissaries 
to  create  alarm  and  discontent.  But  such  thorough 


200  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

precautions  were  taken  by  the  Government,  that  the 
election  was  the  quietest  ever  known,  though  a  very 
heavy  vote  was  polled.  On  the  popular  vote,  Lincoln 
received  2,223,035;  M'Clellan,  1,811,754.  The  latter 
carried  only  three  states — New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and 
Kentucky,  while  all  the  others  which  held  an  election 
went  to  Lincoln.  The  total  number  admitted  and 
counted  of  electoral  votes  was  233,  of  which  Lincoln 
and  Johnson  (Vice-President)  had  212,  and  M'Clellan 
and  Pendleton  21. 

Of  this  election,  the  President  said,  in  a  speech 
(November  loth,  1864) — 

"So  long  as  I  have  been  here,  I  have  not  willingly 
planted  a  thorn  in  any  man's  bosom.  While  I  am  duly 
sensible  to  the  high  compliment  of  a  re-election,  and  duly 
grateful,  as  I  trust,  to  Almighty  God  for  having  directed  my 
countrymen  to  a  right  conclusion,  as  I  think,  for  their  good, 
it  adds  nothing  to  my  satisfaction  that  any  other  man  may 
be  disappointed  by  the  result  May  I  ask  those  who  have 
not  differed  with  me  to  join  with  me  in  this  spirit  towards 
those  who  have?" 

Those  who  yet  believe  that  the  rebels  were  in  the 
main  chivalric  and  honourable  foes,  may  be  asked 
what  would  they  have  thought  of  the  French,  if, 
during  the  German  war,  they  had  sent  chests  of 
linen,  surcharged  with  small-pox  venom,  into  Berlin, 
under  charge  of  agents  officially  recognised  by 
Government  ?  What  would  they  have  thought  of 


Atrocious    Warfare.  201 

Germany,  if  official  agents  from  that  country  had 
stolen  into  Paris  and  attempted  to  burn  the  city. 
Yet  both  of  these  things  were  attempted  by  the 
agents  of  the  Confederate  Government — not  by  un 
authorised  individuals.  On  one  night,  fires  were 
placed  in  thirteen  of  the  principal  hotels  of  New  York, 
while,  as  regards  incendiarism,  plots  were  hatched 
from  the  beginning  in  the  South  to  treacherously  set 
fire  to  Northern  cities,  to  murder  their  public  men, 
and  otherwise  make  dishonourable  warfare,  the  proof 
of  all  this  being  in  the  avowals  and  threats  of  the 
Southern  newspapers.  Immediately  after  the  taking 
of  Nashville  by  Thomas,  the  writer,  with  a  friend, 
occupied  a  house  in  that  town  which  had  belonged 
to  a  rebel  clergyman,  among  whose  papers  were  found 
abundant  proof  that  this  reverend  incendiary  had 
been  concerned  in  a  plot  to  set  fire  to  Cincinnati. 

In  connection  with  these  chivalric  deeds  of  intro 
ducing  small-pox  and  burning  hotels,  must  be 
mentioned  other  acts  of  the  rebel  agents,  sent  by  their 
Government  on  "detached  service."  On  the  ipth 
October,  a  party  of  these  "  agents  "  made  a  raid  into 
St.  Albans,  Vermont,  where  they  robbed  the  banks, 
and  then  retreated  into  Canada.  These  men  were, 
however,  discharged  by  the  Canadian  Government ; 
the  money  which  they  had  stolen  was  given  up  to 
them,  as  Raymond  states,  "under  circumstances 
which  cast  great  suspicion  upon  prominent  members 


2O2  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

of  the  Canadian  Government."  The  indignation 
which  this  conduct  excited  in  the  United  States  is 
indescribable,  and  the  Canadian  Government,  recog 
nising  their  mistake,  re-arrested  such  of  the  raiders 
as  had  not  made  their  escape.  But  the  American 
Government,  finding  that  they  had  few  friends  beyond 
the  frontier,  properly  established  a  strict  system  of 
passports  for  all  immigrants  from  Canada. 

The  year  1864  closed  under  happy  auspices.  "  The 
whole  country  had  come  to  regard  the  strength  of 
the  rebellion  as  substantially  broken."  There  were 
constant  rumours  of  peace  and  reconciliation.  The 
rebels,  in  their  exhaustion,  were  presenting  the  most 
pitiable  spectre  of  a  sham  government.  The  whole 
North  was  crowded  with  thousands  of  rebel  families 
which  would  have  starved  at  home.  They  were 
not  molested  ;  but,  as  I  remember,  they  seemed  to 
work  the  harder  for  that  to  injure  the  Government 
and  Northern  people  among  whom  and  upon  whom 
they  lived,  being  in  this  like  the  teredo  worms,  which 
destroy  the  trunk  which  shelters  and  feeds  them. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

The  President's  Reception  of  Negroes— The  South  opens  Negotiations  for 
Peace — Proposals— Lincoln's  Second  Inauguration — The  Last  Battle— 
Davis  Captured — End  of  the  War — Death  of  Lincoln— Public  Mourning. 

THE  political  year  of  1865  began  with  the  assem 
blage  of  Congress  (December  5th,  1864).  The 
following  day,  Mr.  Lincoln  sent  in  his  Message. 
After  setting  forth  the  state  of  American  relations 
with  foreign  Governments,  he  announced  that  the 
ports  of  Fernandina,  Norfolk,  and  Pensacola  had  been 
opened.  In  1863,  a  Spaniard  named  Arguelles,  who 
had  been  guilty  of  stealing  and  selling  slaves,  had 
been  handed  over  to  the  Cuban  Government  by 
President  Lincoln,  and  for  this  the  President  had 
been  subjected  to  very  severe  criticism.  In  the 
Message  he  vindicated  himself,  declaring  that  he  had 
no  doubt  of  the  power  and  duty  of  the  Executive 
under  the  law  of  nations  to  exclude  enemies  of  the 
human  race  from  an  asylum  in  the  United  States. 
He  showed  an  enormous  increase  in  industry  and 
revenue,  a  great  expansion  of  population,  and  other 
indications  of  material  progress ;  thus  practically 
refuting  General  Fremont's  shameless  declaration  that 


204  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Lincoln's  "administration  had  been,  politically  and 
financially,  a  failure."  On  New  Year's  Day,  1865, 
the  President,  as  was  usual,  held  a  reception.  The 
negroes — who  waited  round  the  door  in  crowds  to  see 
their  great  benefactor,  whom  they  literally  worshipped 
as  a  superior  being,  and  to  whom  many  attributed 
supernatural  or  divine  power — had  never  yet  been 
admitted  into  the  White  House,  except  as  servants. 
But  as  the  crowd  of  white  visitors  diminished,  a  few 
of  the  most  confident  ventured  timidly  to  enter  the 
hall  of  reception,  and,  to  their  extreme  joy  and 
astonishment,  were  made  welcome  by  the  President. 
Then  many  came  in.  An  eye-witness  wrote  of  this 
scene  as  follows — "  For  nearly  two  hours  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  been  shaking  the  hands  of  the  white  'sovereigns/ 
and  had  become  excessively  weary — but  here  his 
nerves  rallied  at  the  unwonted  sight,  and  he  welcomed 
this  motley  crowd  with  a  heartiness  that  made 
them  wild  with  exceeding  joy.  They  laughed  and 
wept,  and  wept  and  laughed,  exclaiming  through 
their  blinding  tears,  'God  bless  you!'  'God  bless 
Abraham  Lincoln!'  'God  bress  Massa  Linkum!'" 

It  was  usual  with  Louis  the  XI.  to  begin  im 
portant  State  negotiations  by  means  of  vagabonds 
of  no  faith  or  credibility,  that  they  might  be  easily 
disowned  if  unsuccessful ;  and  this  was  precisely 
the  course  adopted  by  Davis  and  his  Govern 
ment  when  they  employed  Jewett  and  Saunders 


Negotiations  for  Peace.  205 

to  sound  Lincoln  as  to  peace.  A  more  reputable 
effort  was  made  in  February,  1865,  towards  the  same 
object.  On  December  28th,  1864,  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
furnished  Secretary  F.  P.  Blair  with  a  pass  to  enter 
the  Southern  lines  and  return,  stipulating,  however, 
that  he  should  in  no  way  treat  politically. with  the 
rebels.  But  Mr.  Blair  returned  with  a  message  from 
Jefferson  Davis,  in  which  the  latter  declared  his 
willingness  to  enter  into  negotiations  to  secure  peace 
to  the  two  countries.  To  which  Mr.  Lincoln  replied 
that  he  would  be  happy  to  receive  any  agent  with  a 
view  to  securing  peace  to  our  common  country.  On 
January  2Qth,  the  Federal  Government  received  an 
application  from  A.  H.  Stephens,  the  Confederate 
Vice-President,  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  President  of  the 
rebel  Senate,  and  A.  J.  Campbell,  the  rebel  Secretary 
of  War,  to  enter  the  lines  as  ^/^/-commissioners,  to 
confer  with  the  President.  This  was  a  great  advance 
in  dignity  beyond  Saunders  and  Jewett.  Permission 
was  given  for  the  parties  to  hold  a  conference  on  the 
condition  that  they  were  not  to  land,  which  caused 
great  annoyance  to  the  rebel  agents,  who  made  no 
secret  of  their  desire  to  visit  Washington.  They  were 
received  on  board  a  steamboat  off  Fortress  Monroe. 
By  suggestion  of  General  Grant,  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  personally  present  at  the  interview.  The  Pre 
sident  insisted  that  three  conditions  were  indis 
pensable — i.  Restoration  of  the  national  authority  in 


206  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

all  the  states ;  2.  Emancipation  of  the  slaves ;  and 
3.  Disbanding  of  the  forces  hostile  to  Government. 
The  Confederate  Commissioners  suggested  that  if 
hostilities  could  be  suspended  while  the  two  Govern 
ments  united  in  driving  the  French  out  of  Mexico,  or 
in  a  war.  with  France,  the  result  would  be  a  better 
feeling  between  the  South  and  North,  and  the 
restoration  of  the  Union.  This  proposition — which, 
to  say  the  least,  indicated  a  lamentable  want  of 
gratitude  to  the  French  Emperor,  who  had  been 
anxious  from  the  beginning  to  recognise  the  South 
and  destroy  the  Union,  and  who  would  have  done  so 
but  for  the  English  Government — was  rejected  by 
Mr.  Lincoln  as  too  vague.  During  this  conference, 
Mr.  Hunter  insisted  that  a  constitutional  ruler  could 
confer  with  rebels,  and  adduced  as  an  instance  the 
correspondence  of  Charles  I.  with  his  Parliament.  To 
which  Mr.  Lincoln  replied  that  he  did  not  pretend 
to  be  versed  in  questions  of  history,  but  that  he 
distinctly  recollected  that  Charles  I.  lost  his  head. 
Nothing  was  agreed  upon.  But,  as  Mr.  Stephens 
declared,  Jefferson  Davis  coloured  the  report  of  this 
meeting  so  as  to  crush  the  great  Southern  peace- 
party.  He  began  by  stating  that  he  had  received  a 
written  notification  which  satisfied  him  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  wished  to  confer  as  to  peace,  when  the  truth 
was  that  Lincoln  had  forbidden  Mr.  Blair  to  open 
any  such  negotiation.  And  having,  by  an  inflamma- 


His  Second  Inauguration.  207 

tory  repoi :,  ^cirred  up  many  people  to  hold  "  black- 
flag"  meetings  and  "  fire  the  Southern  heart,"  he  said 
of  the  Northern  men  in  a  public  speech — "  We  will 
teach  them  that,  when  they  talk  to  us,  they  talk  to 
their  masters."1  Or,  as  it  was  expressed  by  a  leading 
Confederate  journal — "A  respectful  attitude,  cap  in 
hand,  is  that  which  befits  a  Yankee  when  speaking  to 
a  Southerner." 

On  January  3ist,  the  House  of  Representatives 
passed  a  resolution  submitting  to  the  Legislatures  of 
all  the  states  a  constitutional  amendment  entirely 
abolishing  slavery,  which  had  already  passed  the 
Senate  (April  8th,  1864).  On  the  4th  March,  1865, 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  inaugurated  for  a  second  time. 
Four  years  before,  when  the  same  ceremony  was  per 
formed,  he  was  the  least  known  and  the  most  hated 
man  who  had  ever  been  made  President.  Since  then 
a  tremendous  storm  had  darkened  the  land,  and  now 
the  sky,  growing  blue  again,  let  the  sunlight  fall  on 
his  head,  and  the  world  saw  what  manner  of  man  he 
was.  And  such  a  day  this  4th  of  March  literally 
was,  for  it  began  with  so  great  a  tempest  that  it 
was  supposed  the  address  must  be  delivered  in 
the  Senate  Chamber  instead  of  the  open  air.  But, 
as  Raymond  writes,  "the  people  had  gathered  in 

1  Stephens'  Statement,  Augusta,  Georgia,  "  Chronicle,"  June  17th, 
1875.  Quoted  by  Dr.  Brockett,  p.  579. 


208  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

immense  numbers  before  the  Capitol,  in  spite  of  the 
storm,  and  just  before  noon  the  rain  ceased,  the 
clouds  broke  away,  and,  as  the  President  took  the 
oath  of  office,  the  blue  sky  appeared,  a  small 
white  cloud,  like  a  hovering  bird,  seemed  to  hang 
above  his  head,  and  the  sunlight  broke  through  the 
clouds,  and  fell  upon  him  with  a  glory  afterwards 
felt  to  have  been  an  emblem  of  the  martyr's  crown 
which  was  so  soon  to  rest  upon  his  head."  Arnold 
and  many  others  declare  that,  at  this  moment,  a 
brilliant  star  made  its  appearance  in  broad  daylight, 
and  the  incident  was  regarded  by  many  as  an  omen 
of  peace.  As  I  have  myself  seen  in  America  a  star 
at  noon-day  for  two  days  in  succession,  I  do  not 
doubt  the  occurrence,  though  I  do  not  remember  it 
on  this  4th  of  March.  The  inaugural  address  was 
short,  but  remarkable  for  vigour  and  a  very  concilia 
tory  spirit.  He  said — 

"  On  the  occasion  corresponding  to  this,  four  years  ago, 
all  thoughts  were  anxiously  directed  to  an  impending  civil 
war.  All  dreaded  it — all  sought  to  avoid  it.  While  the 
inaugural  address  was  being  delivered  from  this  place, 
devoted  altogether  to  saving  the  Union  without  war,  insur 
gent  agents  were  in  the  city  seeking  to  destroy  it  without 
war.  .  .  .  Both  parties  deprecated  war,  but  one  of  them 
would  make  war  rather  than  let  the  nation  survive,  and  the 
other  would  accept  war  rather  than  let  it  perish — and  the 
war  came.  One-eighth  of  the  population  were  slaves,  who 
constituted  a  peculiar  and  powerful  interest.  All  knew  that 


His  Inaugural  Address.  209 

this  interest  was  the  cause  of  the  war.  To  strengthen  and 
perpetuate  this  interest  was  the  object  for  which  the  insur 
gents  would  rend  the  Union  by  war,  while  the  Government 
claimed  right  to  no  more  than  restrict  the  territorial  enlarge 
ment  of  it.  ...  Both  parties  read  the  same  Bible  and 
pray  to  the  same  God,  and  each  invokes  His  aid  against  the 
other.  It  may  seem  strange  that  any  men  should  dare  to 
ask  a  just  God's  assistance  in  wringing  their  bread  from  the 
sweat  of  other  men's  faces ;  but  let  us  judge  not  that  we  be 
not  judged.  The  prayer  of  both  could  not  be  answered. 
That  of  neither  has  been  answered  fully.  The  Almighty 
has  His  own  purposes.  'Woe  unto  the  world  because  of 
offences,  for  it  must  needs  be  that  offences  come,  but  woe 
unto  the  man  by  whom  the  offence  cometh.'  If  we  shall 
suppose  that  American  slavery  is  one  of  these  offences  which, 
in  the  providence  of  God,  must  needs  come,  but  which,' 
having'  continued  through  His  appointed  time,  He  now  wills 
to  remove,  and  that  He  gives  to  both  North  and  South  this 
terrible  war  as  the  woe  due  to  those  by  whom  the  offence 
came,  shall  we  discern  therein  any  departure  from  those 
Divine  attributes  which  the  believers  in  a  living  God  always 
ascribe  to  Him?  Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do  we 
pray,  that  this  mighty  scourge  of  war  may  speedily  pass 
away.  Yet  if  God  wills  that  it  continue  until  all  the  wealth 
piled  by  the  bondman's  250  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall 
be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash 
shall  be  requited  by  another  drawn  with  the  sword,  as  was 
said  3000  years  ago,  so  it  must  still  be  said  the  judgments 
of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether.  With  malice 
toward  no  one,  with  charity  for  all,  with  firmness  in  the 
right  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to 
o 


210  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

finish  the  work  we  are  in,  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds, 
to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his 
widow  and  his  orphans,  to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and 
cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves,  and  with 
all  nations." 

If  there  was  ever  a  sincere  utterance  on  earth 
expressive  of  deeply  religious  faith,  in  spirit  and  in 
truth,  it  was  in  this  address.  And  at  this  time 
not  only  President  Lincoln,  but  an  extraordinary 
number  of  people  were  inspired  by  a  deeply  earnest 
faith  and  feelings  which  few  can  now  realise.  Men 
who  had  never  known  serious  or  elevated  thoughts 
before,  now  became  fanatical.  The  death  of  relatives 
in  the  war,  the  enormous  outrages  inflicted  by  the 
rebels  on  prisoners,  the  system  of  terrorism  and  cruelty 
which  they  advocated,  had  produced  on  the  Northern 
mind  feelings  once  foreign  to  it,  and  they  were  now 
resolved  to  go  on,  "  in  God's  name,  and  for  this  cause," 
to  the  bitter  end.  With  the  feeling  of  duty  to 
God  and  the  Constitution  and  the  Union,  scores  on 
scores  of  thousands  of  men  laid  down  their  lives  on 
the  battle-field.  And  it  was  characteristic  of  the 
South  that,  having  from  the  beginning  all  the  means 
at  their  command  of  cajoling,  managing,  and  ruling 
the  North,  as  easily  as  ever  a  shepherd  managed 
sheep,  they,  with  most  exemplary  arrogance,  took 
precisely  the  course  to  provoke  all  its  resistance. 
Soldiers  who  had  not  these  earnest  feelings  generally 


Northern  Sentiment.  211 

turned  into  bounty-jumpers — men  who  took  the  pre 
mium  for  enlisting,  and  deserted  to  enlist  again — or 
else  into  marauders  or  stragglers.  But  the  great  mass 
were  animated  by  firm  enthusiasm.  I  have  been  in 
several  countries  during  wild  times,  and  have  seen  in  a 
French  revolution  courage  amounting  to  delirium,  but 
never  have  I  seen  anything  like  the  zeal  which  burned 
in  every  Union  heart  during  the  last  two  years  of  the 
war  of  Emancipation. 

On  the  6th  March,  1865,  Mr.  Fessenden,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  voluntarily  resigned,  and 
Mr.  Hugh  M'Culloch  was  appointed  in  his  place. 
This  was  the  only  change  in  the  Cabinet.  On  the 
nth  March,  the  President  issued  a  proclamation, 
pardoning  all  deserters  from  the  army,  on  condition 
that  they  would  at  once  return  to  duty.  This  had 
the  effect  of  bringing  in  several  thousands,  who 
materially  aided  the  draft  for  300,000,  which  was 
begun  on  the  1 5th  March,  1865. 

And  now  the  Southern  Confederacy  was  rapidly 
hurrying  down  a  darkening  road  to  ruin — nor  was  it 
even  destined  to  perish  with  honour,  and  true  to  its 
main  principle ;  for,  in  their  agony,  its  leaders  even 
looked  to  the  despised  negro  for  help.  It  was  pro 
posed  to  the  rebel  Congress — and  the  measure  was 
defeated  by  only  one  vote — that  every  negro  who 
would  fight  for  the  Confederacy  should  be  set  free ; 
which  amounted,  as  Raymond  declares,  and  as  many 


212  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

rebels  admitted,  to  a  practical  abandonment  of  those 
ideas  of  slavery  for  whose  supremacy  the  rebellion 
had  been  set  on  foot.  Of  this  proposition  President 
Lincoln  said — "  I  have  in  my  life  heard  many  argu 
ments  why  the  negroes  ought  to  be  slaves,  but  if  they 
will  fight  for  those  who  would  keep  them  in  slavery, 
it  will  be  a  better  argument  than  any  I  have  yet 
heard.  He  who  would  fight  for  that,  ought  to  be  a 
slave." 

The  beginning  of  the  end  was  now  approaching. 
Early  in  February,  Grant  advanced  in  person  with 
four  corps,  with  the  object  of  establishing  his  position 
near  the  Weldon  road.  After  several  days'  fighting, 
the  Union  forces  were  in  a  position  four  miles  in 
advance.  On  the  25th  March,  1865,  the  rebels 
desperately  assaulted  and  captured  Fort  Stedman,  a 
very  important  position  near  Petersburg ;  but  the 
Union  reserves  speedily  retook  it.  General  Grant 
was  now  afraid  lest  Lee  should  escape,  "  and  combine 
with  Johnston,  in  which  case  a  long  campaign,  con 
suming  most  of  the  summer,  might  become  necessary." 

On  the  30th  March,  1865,  Grant  attacked  Lee, 
"  with  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  in  front,  while  the 
army  of  the  James  forced  the  enemy's  right  flank,  and 
Sheridan,  with  a  large  cavalry  force,  distracting  Lee's 
attention  by  a  blow  at  the  junction  of  the  South-side, 
Richmond,  and  Danville  railroads,  suddenly  wheeled, 
struck  the  South-side  railroad  within  ten  miles  of 


The  Last  Battle.  213 

Petersburg,  and,  tearing  it  up  as  he  went,  fell  upon 
the  rebel  left  flank."  During  this  time,  and  the  four 
days  which  ensued,  there  was  much  resolute  and 
brilliant  strategy,  desperate  and  rapid  flanking,  hard 
fighting,  and  personal  heroism.  It  was  the  perfection 
of  war,  and  it  was  well  done  by  both  adversaries. 
Now  Petersburg  was  completely  at  the  mercy  of  the 
national  armies.  During  the  tremendous  cannonading 
of  Saturday  night,  April  ist,  1865,  Lee,  in  dire  need, 
called  for  Longstreet  to  aid  him.  "Then,"  in  the 
words  of  Arnold,  "  the  bells  of  Richmond  tolled,  and 
the  drums  beat,  calling  militia,  citizens,  clerks,  every 
body  who  could  carry  arms,  to  man  the  lines  from 
which  Longstreet's  troops  were  retiring."  At  early 
dawn  on  Sunday,  April  2nd,  1865,  Grant  ordered  a 
general  assault  along  the  entire  line,  and  this,  the  last 
grand  charge  of  the  war,  carried  everything  decisively 
before  it.  Away  the  rebel  lines  rushed  in  full  retreat. 
At  eleven  a.m.  of  that  eventful  Sunday,  Jefferson 
Davis,  in  church,  received  a  despatch  from  Lee,  saying 
Petersburg  and  Richmond  could  no  longer  be  held. 
He  ran  in  haste  from  church,  and  left  the  city  by  the 
Danville  railroad.  During  the  night,  Richmond  and 
Petersburg  were  both  evacuated,  the  rebels  first  setting 
fire  to  the  principal  buildings  in  Richmond,  being 
urged  by  the  desperate  intention  of  making  another 
Moscow  of  their  last  city.  The  flames  were,  with 
difficulty,  put  out  by  Weitzel's  cavalry.  His  regiment 


214  -Ltfe  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

of  black  troops  was  the  first  to  enter  the  stronghold 
of  slavery,  its  band  playing  "  John  Brown's  Body." 

Lee,  who  had  lost  18,000  prisoners  and  10,000  in 
killed  and  wounded,  or  half  his  force,  fled  with  the 
remainder,  in  the  utmost  disorder,  toward  Lynchburg. 
But  he  had  not  the  merciful  Meade  in  command  after 
him  this  time,  but  a  man  of  blood  and  iron,  "  who  was 
determined  then  and  there  to  make  an  end  of 
it."  "  Grant's  object,"  says  Raymond,  "  in  the  whole 
campaign,  had  been,  not  Richmond,  but  Lee's  army ; 
for  that  he  pushed  forward,  regardless  of  the  captured 
cities  which  lay  behind  him,  showing  himself  as 
relentless  in  pursuit  as  he  had  been  undaunted  in 
attack."1 

President  Lincoln  immediately  went  to  the  front 
and  to  Richmond  the  day  after  it  was  taken.  He 
entered  quietly  without  a  military  guard,  accompanied 
only  by  his  son,  Admiral  Porter,  and  the  sailors  who 
had  rowed  him  up.  But  the  negroes  soon  found  out 
that  he  was  there,  and  came  rushing,  with  wild  cries 
of  delight,  to  welcome  him.  This  scene  has  been 
described  as  inexpressibly  touching.  The  poor 
creatures,  now  knowing,  for  the  first  time,  that  they 
were  really  free,  came,  their  eyes  streaming  with  tears, 
weeping  aloud  for  joy,  shouting  or  dancing  with 


1  It  should  be  said  that  Meade,  under  Grant's  orders,  was,  however, 
now  one  of  Lee's  most  vigorous  pursuers. 


His  Visit  to  Richmond.  215 

delight,  and  crying,  without  exception,  in  long  chorus, 
"Glory,  glory,  glory  to  God!"  These  people,  who 
had  acquired,  as  it  were,  in  an  instant  that  freedom 
which  they  prized  far  above  wealth,  or  aught  else  on 
earth,  found  only  in  religious  enthusiasm  vent  for 
their  feelings. 

It  was  at  Grant's  suggestion  that  President  Lincoln 
had  so  promptly  visited  Richmond,  to  which  he  again 
returned  on  April  6th,  1865.  Meanwhile,  the  entire 
North  and  West  was  in  a  frenzy  of  delight.  Those  who 
can  recall  it  will  always  speak  of  it  as  such  an  outburst 
of  joyful  excitement  as  they  can  hardly  expect  to  take 
part  in  again.  Cannon  roared  and  bells  were  rung 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific ;  drums  beat  and 
trumpets  sounded,  no  longer  for  war,  but  for  gladness 
of  peace.  There  was  such  gratulation  and  hurrah 
ing  for  happiness,  and  such  kindly  greeting  among 
strangers,  that  it  seemed  as  if  all  the  world  were  one 
family  at  a  merry-making.  And,  in  every  family, 
relatives  and  friends  began  to  get  ready  for  husbands, 
fathers,  brothers,  sons,  or  lovers,  for  all  knew  that,  in 
a  few  days,  more  than  a  -million  of  Union  soldiers 
would  return  home.  For,  at  last,  the  war  was  over. 
The  four  years  of  sorrow  and  suspense  were  at  an  end. 

Meanwhile,  Grant  was  hunting  Lee  with  headlong 
haste.  The  rebel  army  was  cut  off  from  its  supplies 
and  starving,  its  cattle  falling  dead,  "  its  men  falling 
out  of  the  ranks  by  thousands,  from  hunger  and 


216  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

fatigue."  Fighting-  desperately,  flanked  at  every  turn, 
on  April  6th,  1865,  Lee  was  overtaken  by  Sheridan 
and  Meade  at  Deatonville,  and  met  with  a  crushing 
defeat.  On  Sunday,  April  pth,  1865,  he  was  com 
pelled  to  surrender  to  Grant  on  terms  which,  as 
Arnold  rightly  states,  were  very  liberal,  magnanimous, 
and  generous.  The  whole  of  Lee's  army  were  allowed 
to  return  home  on  condition  that  they  would  not  take 
up  arms  again  against  the  United  States — not  a 
difficult  condition  for  an  enemy  which  made  no 
scruple  of  immediately  putting  its  paroled  men  into 
the  field,  without  regard  to  pledge  or  promise,  as  had 
happened  with  the  37,000  Vicksburg  prisoners.  This 
stipulation  gave  much  dissatisfaction  to  the  Union 
army.  On  the  26th  April,  1865,  General  Johnston 
surrendered  his  army  to  Sherman,  not  before  the 
latter  had  blundered  sadly  in  offering  terms  on 
conditions  which  were  entirely  beyond  his  powers  to 
grant.  Johnston  finally  obtained  the  same  conditions 
as  Lee.  The  other  rebel  forces  soon  yielded — General 
Howell  Cobb  surrendering  to  General  Wilson  in 
Georgia,  on  the  2Oth  April  ;  Dick  Taylor  surrendering 
all  the  forces  west  of  the  Mississippi  to  General  Canby, 
to  whom  General  Kirby  Smith  also  surrendered  on 
May  26th.  On  the  nth  day  of  May,  Jefferson  Davis, 
flying  in  terror  towards  the  sea,  was  captured  at 
Irwinsville,  Georgia,  by  the  4th  Michigan  Regiment. 
He  was  attired  at  the  time  as  a  woman,  wearing  his 


.    Jefferson  Davis  Captured.  217 

wife's  waterproof  cloak,  and  with  a  woman's  shawl 
drawn  over  his. head.  Those  who  captured  him  say 
he  was  carrying  a  water-bucket.  A  rebel  officer  who 
was  with  him  admits  that  he  was  in  a  loose  wrapper, 
and  that  a  Miss  Howell  fastened  the  shawl  on  to 
disguise  him,  but  declares  he  was  followed  by  a 
servant  with  a  bucket.1  It  has  been  vigorously 
denied  that  Davis  was  thus  disguised  as  a  woman  ; 
but  the  affidavit  of  the  colonel  who  captured  him, 
and  the  clumsy  attempt  of  the  rebel  officer  to 
establish  the  contrary,  effectually  prove  it.  On  the 
4th  October,  1864,  Mr.  Davis,  speaking  of  "the 
Yankees,"  declared  that  "the  only  way  to  make 
spaniels  civil  is  to  whip  them."  A  few  months  only 
had  elapsed,  and  this  man  who  spoke  of  Northerners 
as  of  dogs,  was  caught  by  them  running  away  as  an 
old  woman  with  a  tin  pail.  This  was  the  end  of  the 
Great  Rebellion. 

Mr.  Raymond  declares  that  "  the  people  had  been 
borne  on  the  top  of  a  lofty  wave  of  joy  ever  since 
Sheridan's  victory ;  and  the  news  of  Lee's  surrender, 
with  Lincoln's  return  to  Washington,  intensified  the 
universal  exultation."  On  the  loth  April,  1865,  an 
immense  crowd  assembled  at  the  White  House,  which 
was  illuminated,  as  "  the  whole  city  also  was  a-blaze 

1  Vide  Frank  Moore's  "Rebellion  Record,"  1864-5— Rumours  and 
Incidents,  p.  9. 


2i8  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

with  bonfires  and  waving  with  flags."  And  on  this 
occasion,  so  inspired  with  joy  soon  to  be  turned  to 
the  deepest  grief  which  ever  fell  on  the  nation,  Lincoln 
delivered  his  last  address.  Hitherto  he  had  always 
spoken  with  hope,  but  never  without  pain  ;  after  he 
had  for  once  lifted  his  voice  in  joy  he  never  spoke 
again.  In  this  address  he  did  not  exult  over  the 
fallen,  but  discussed  the  best  method  of  reconstruc 
tion,  or  how  to  bring  the  revolted  states  again  into 
the  Union  as  speedily  and  as  kindly  as  possible. 

No  time  was  lost  in  relieving  the  nation  from  the 
annoyances  attendant  on  war.  Between  the  nth 
April,  1865,  and  the  I5th,  proclamations  were  issued, 
declaring  all  drafting  and  recruiting  to  be  stopped, 
with  all  purchases  of  arms  and  supplies,  removing  all 
military  restrictions  upon  trade  and  commerce,  and 
opening  the  blockaded  ports.  The  promptness  with 
which  the  army  returned  to  peaceful  pursuits  was, 
considering  its  magnitude,  unprecedented  in  history. 
The  grand  army  mustered  over  1,200,000  men.  The 
population  of  the  twenty-three  loyal  states,  including 
Missouri,  Kentucky,  and  Maryland — which  latter  state 
furnished  soldiers  for  both  sides,  from  a  population 
of  3,025,745 — was  22,046,472,  and  this  supplied 
the  aggregate,  reduced  to  a  three  years'  standard, 
of  2,129,041  men,  or  fourteen  and  a-half  per  cent, 
of  the  whole  population.  Ninety-six  thousand 
and  eighty-nine  died  from  wounds,  184,331  from 


Cost  of  the   War.  219 

disease — total,  280,420 — the  actual  number  being 
more.  The  cost  of  the  war  to  the  United  States  was 
3,098,233,078  dollars,  while  the  States  expended  in 
bounties,  or  premiums  to  recruits,  500,000,000  dollars. 
The  blacks  furnished  their  fair  proportion  of  soldiers, 
and,  if  suffering  and  death  be  a  test  of  courage,  a 
much  greater  proportion  of  bravery  than  the  whites, 
as  of  178,975  black  troops,  68,178  perished. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  last  speech  was  entirely  devoted  to  a 
kind  consideration  of  the  means  by  which  he  might 
restore  their  privileges  to  the  rebels  ;  and  his  last  story 
was  a  kindly  excuse  for  letting  one  escape.  It  was 
known  that  Jacob  Thompson,  a  notorious  Confederate, 
meant  to  escape  in  disguise.  The  President,  as  usual, 
was  disposed  to  be  merciful,  and  to  permit  the  arch- 
rebel  to  pass  unmolested,  but  his  Secretary  urged  that 
he  should  be  arrested  as  a  traitor.  "  By  permitting 
him  to  escape  the  penalties  of  treason,"  remarked  the 
Secretary,  "you  sanction  it."  "Well,"  replied  Mr. 
Lincoln,  "  that  puts  me  in  mind  of  a  little  story. 
There  was  an  Irish  soldier  last  summer  who  stopped 
at  a  chemist's,  where  he  saw  a  soda-fountain.  '  Misther 
Doctor,'  he  said,  'give  me,  plase,  a  glass  ov  soda- 
wather — and  if  ye  can  put  in  a  few  drops  of  whiskey 
unbeknown  to  anyone,  I'll  be  obleeged  till  yees.' 
Now,"  continued  Mr.  Lincoln,  "if  Jake  Thompson  is 
permitted  to  go  away  unknown  to  anyone,  where's 
the  harm  ?  Dorit  have  him  arrested." 


220  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

And  now  the  end  was  drawing  near.  As  the  taper 
which  has  burned  almost  away  flashes  upwards,  as  if  it 
would  cast  its  fire-life  to  Heaven,  so  Abraham  Lincoln, 
when  his  heart  was  for  once,  and  once  only,  glad  and 
light,  perished  suddenly.  During  the  whole  war 
he  had  been  hearing  from  many  sources  that  his  life 
was  threatened.  There  were  always  forming,  in  the 
South,  Devoted  Bands  and  Brotherhoods  of  Death, 
sanctioned  by  the  Confederate  Congress,  whose  object 
was  simply  arson,  robbery,  and  murder  in  the 
North.  Many  have  forgotten,  but  I  have  not,  what 
appeared  in  the  rebel  newspapers  of  those  days,  or 
with  what  the  detective  police  of  the  North  were  con 
tinually  busy.  The  deeds  of  Beal  and  Kennedy,1 
men  holding  commissions  from  the  authorities  of 
Richmond  for  the  purpose,  showed  that  a  government 
could  stoop  to  attempt  to  burn  hundreds  of  women 
and  children  alive,  and  throw  railway  trains  full  of 
peaceable  citizens  off  the  track.  It  is  to  the  credit  of 
the  North  that,  in  their  desire  for  reconciliation,  the 
question  as  to  who  were  the  instigators  and  authorisers 
of  Lincoln's  death  was  never  pushed  very  far.  The 
world  was  satisfied  with  being  told  that  the  murderer 
was  a  crazy  actor,  and  the  rebels  eagerly  caught  at 
the  idea.  But  years  have  now  passed,  and  it  is  time 
that  the  truth  should  be  known.  As  Dr.  Brockett 

1  See  "Trial  and  Sentence  of  Beal  and  Kennedy,"  MTherson's 
"Political  History,"  pp.  552,  553. 


Plots  against  His  Life.  221 

declares,  a  plot,  the  extent  and  ramifications  of  which 
have  never  yet  been  fully  made  known,  had  long  been 
formed  to  assassinate  the  President  and  the  prominent 
members  of  the  Cabinet.  "  Originating  in  the  Con 
federate  Government,  this  act,  with  others,  such  as  the 
attempt  to  fire  New  York,  .  .  .  was  confided  to  an 
association  of  army  officers,  who,  when  sent  on  these 
errands,  were  said  to  be  on  '  detached  service.' " 
There  is  direct  proof  of  Booth's  actual  consultation 
with  officers  known  to  belong  to  this  organisation, 
during  Lee's  retreat  from  Gettysburg.  The  assassina 
tion  of  the  President  was  a  thing  so  commonly  talked 
of  in  the  South  as  to  excite  no  surprise.  A  reward 
was  actually  offered  in  one  of  the  Southern  papers  for 
"the  murder  of  the  President,  Vice-President,  and 
Secretary  Seward."  Now  when  such  an  offer  is 
followed  by  such  an  attempt,  few  persons  would  deny 
the  connection.  It  is  true  that  there  were,  even 
among  the  most  zealous  Union-men  at  this  time, 
some  whose  desire  to  acquire  political  influence  in  the 
South,  and  be  regarded  as  conciliators,  was  so  great, 
that  they  hastened  to  protest,  as  zealously  as  any 
rebels,  that  the  Confederate  Government  had  no  know 
ledge  of  the  plot.  Perhaps  from  the  depths  of  Mr. 
Jefferson  Davis's  inner  conscience  there  may  yet  come 
forth  some  tardy  avowal  of  the  truth.  When  that 
gentleman  was  arrested,  he  protested  that  he  had 
done  nothing  for  which  he  could  be  punished ;  but 


222  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

when  he  heard,  in  answer,  that  he  might  be  held 
accountable  for  complicity  in  the  murder  of  President 
Lincoln,  he  was  silent  and  seemed  alarmed.  But  the 
almost  conclusive  proof  that  the  murder  was  carried 
out  under  the  sanction  and  influence  of  high  authori 
ties,  may  be  found  in  the  great  number  of  people  who 
were  engaged  in  it,  and  the  utter  absence  among 
them  of  those  guiding  minds  which  invariably  direct 
conspiracies.  When  on  one  night  a  great  number  of 
hotels  were  fired  in  New  York,  the  Copperhead  press 
declared  that  it  was  done  by  thieves.  But  the  Fire 
Marshal  of  Philadelphia,  who  was  an  old  detective, 
said  that  common  incendiaries  like  burglars  never 
worked  in  large  parties.  It  was  directed  by  higher 
authority.  Everything  in  the  murder  of  President 
Lincoln  indicated  that  the  assassin  and  his  accom 
plices  were  tools  in  stronger  hands.  The  rebellion 
had  failed,  but  the  last  blow  of  revenge  was  struck 
with  unerring  Southern  vindictiveness.  After  all,  as 
a  question  of  mere  morality,  the  exploits  of  Beal  and 
Kennedy  show  that  the  Confederate  Government  had 
authorised  deeds  a  hundred  times  more  detestable 
than  the  simple  murder  of  President  Lincoln.  Politi 
cal  enthusiasm  might  have  induced  thousands  to 
regard  Lincoln  as  a  tyrant  and  Booth  as  a  Brutus  ; 
but  the  most  fervent  madness  of  faction  can  never 
apologise  for  burning  women  and  children  alive,  or 
killing  them  on  railways. 


John    IVilkes  Booth.  223 

It  was  on  Good  Friday,  the  I4th  of  April,  the 
anniversary  of  Major  Anderson's  evacuation  of  Fort 
Sumter,  "  the  opening  scene  of  the  terrible  four  years' 
civil  war,"  that  President  Lincoln  was  murdered  while 
sitting  in  a  box  at  a  theatre  in  Washington.  The 
assassin,  John  Wilkes  Booth,  was  the  son  of  the  cele 
brated  actor.  He  was  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  and 
utterly  dissipated  and  eccentric.  He  was  a  thorough 
rebel,  and  had  often  exhibited  a  nickel  bullet  with 
which  he  declared  he  meant  to  shoot  Lincoln,  but  his 
wild  and  unsteady  character  had  prevented  those  who 
heard  the  threats  from  attaching  importance  to  them. 
It  had  been  advertised  that  President  Lincoln  and 
many  prominent  men  would  be  present  at  a  perform 
ance.  General  Grant,  who  was  to  have  been  of  their 
number,  had  left  that  afternoon  for  Philadelphia. 
During  the  day,  the  assassin  and  his  accomplices,  who 
were  all  perfectly  familiar  with  the  theatre,  had  care 
fully  made  every  preparation  for  the  murder.  The 
entrance  to  the  President's  box  was  commanded  by  a 
door,  and  in  order  to  close  this,  a  piece  of  wood  was 
provided,  which  would  brace  against  it  so  firmly  that 
no  one  could  enter.  In  order  to  obtain  admission, 
the  spring-locks  of  the  doors  were  weakened  by 
partially  withdrawing  the  screws ;  so  that,  even  if 
locked,  they  could  present  no  resistance.  Many  other 
details  were  most  carefully  arranged,  including  those 
for  Booth's  escape.  He  had  hired  a  fine  horse,  and 


224  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

employed  one  Spangler,  the  stage  carpenter,  to  watch 
it.  This  man  had  also  prepared  the  scenes  so  that 
he  could  readily  reach  the  door.  In  the  afternoon  he 
called  on  Vice-President  Johnson,  sending  up  his 
card,  but  was  denied  admission,  as  that  gentleman 
was  busy.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  an  act  intended 
to  cast  suspicion  upon  Mr.  Johnson,  who  would  be 
Lincoln's  successor.  At  seven  o'clock,  Booth,  with 
five  of  his  accomplices,  entered  a  saloon,  where  they 
drank  together  in  such  a  manner  as  to  attract  atten 
tion.  All  was  ready. 

President  Lincoln  had,  during  the  day,  held  inter 
views  with  many  distinguished  men,  and  discussed 
great  measures.  He  had  consulted  with  Colfax,  the 
Speaker  of  the  House,  as  to  his  future  policy  towards 
the  South,  and  had  seen  the  Minister  to  Spain,  with 
several  senators.  At  eleven  o'clock  he  had  met  the 
Cabinet  and  General  Grant,  and  held  a  most  important 
conference.  "When  it  adjourned,  Secretary  Stanton 
said  he  felt  that  the  Government  was  stronger  than  it 
had  ever  been  ;"  and  after  this  meeting  he  again  con 
versed  with  Mr.  Colfax  and  several  leading  citizens  of 
his  own  state.  His  last  remarks  in  reference  to  public 
affairs  expressed  an  interest  in  the  development  of 
California,  and  he  promised  to  send  a  telegram  in 
reference  to  it  to  Mr.  Colfax  when  he  should  be 
in  San  Francisco.  As  I  have,  however,  stated 
with  reference  to  Jacob  Thompson,  his  own  last 


The  Murder.  225 


act  was  to  save  the  life,  as  he  supposed,  of  a  rebel, 
while  the  last  act  of  the  rebellion  was  to  take  his 
own. 

At  nine  o'clock,  Lincoln  and  his  wife  reached  the 
crowded  theatre,  and  were  received  with  great 
applause.  Then  the  murderer  went  to  his  work. 
Through  the  crowd  in  the  rear  of  the  dress  circle, 
patiently  and  softly,  he  made  his  way  to  the  door 
opening  into  the  dark  narrow  passage  leading  to  the 
President's  box.  Here  he  showed  a  card  to  the 
servant  in  attendance,  saying  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
sent  for  him,  and  the  man,  nothing  doubting,  admitted 
him.  He  entered  the  vestibule,  and  secured  the  door 
behind  him  by  bracing  against  it  the  piece  of  board 
already  mentioned.  He  then  drew  a  small  silver- 
mounted  Derringer  pistol,  which  he  held  in  his  right 
hand,  having  a  long  double-edged  dagger  in  his  left. 
All  in  the  box  were  absorbed  in  watching  the  actors 
on  the  stage,  except  President  Lincoln,  who  was 
leaning  forward,  holding  aside  the  flag-curtain  of  the 
box  with  his  left  hand,  with  his  head  slightly  turned 
towards  the  audience.  At  this  instant  Booth  passed 
by  the  inner  door  into  the  box,  and  stepping  softly 
behind  the  President,  holding  the  pistol  over  the 
chair,  shot  him  through  the  back  of  the  head.  The 
ball  entered  on  the  left  side  behind  the  ear,  through 
the  brain,  and  lodged  just  behind  the  right  eye. 
President  Lincoln  made  no  great  movement— his  head 


226  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

fell  slightly  forward,  and  his  eyes  closed.     He  seemed 
stunned. 

As  the  report  of  the  pistol  rang  through  the  house, 
many  of  the  audience  supposed  it  was  part  of  some 
new  incident  introduced  into  the  play.  Major  Rath- 
bone,  who  was  in  the  box,  saw  at  once  what  had 
occurred,  and  threw  himself  on  Booth,  who  dropped 
the  pistol,  and  freed  himself  by  stabbing  his  assailant 
in  the  arm,  near  the  shoulder.  The  murderer  then 
rushed  to  the  front  of  the  box,  and,  in  a  sharp  loud 
voice,  exclaiming1,  Sic  semper  tyrannis — the  motto  of 
Virginia — leaped  on  the  stage  below.  As  he  went 
over,  his  spur  caught  in  the  American  flag  which  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  grasped,  and  he  fell,  breaking  his  leg ; 
but,  recovering  himself,  he  rose,  brandishing  the 
dagger  theatrically,  and,  facing  the  audience,  cried  in 
stage-style,  "  The  South  is  avenged,"  and  rushed  from 
the  theatre.  He  pushed  Miss  Laura  Keene,  the 
actress,  out  of  his  way,  ran  down  a  dark  passage, 
pursued  by  Mr.  Stewart,  sprung  to  his  saddle,  and 
escaped.  Mrs.  Lincoln  had  fainted,  the  excited 
audience  behaved  like  lunatics,  some  attempting  to 
climb  up  the  pillars  into  the  box.  Through  Miss 
Keene's  presence  of  mind,  the  gas  was  turned  down, 
and  the  crowd  was  turned  out.  And  in  a  minute 
after,  the  telegraph  had  shot  all  over  the  United 
States  the  news  of  the  murder. 

The  President  never  spoke  again.     He  was  taken 


Mr.  Seward  Stabbed.  227 

to  his  home,  and  died  at  twenty  minutes  after  seven 
the  next  morning.  He  was  unconscious  from  the 
moment  he  was  shot. 

As  the  vast  crowd,  mad  with  grief,  poured  forth, 
weeping  and  lamenting,  they  met  with  another  multi 
tude  bringing  the  news  that  Secretary  Seward,  lying 
on  his  sick-bed,  had  been  nearly  murdered.  A  few 
days  before,  he  had  fractured  his  arm  and  jaw  by 
falling  from  a  carriage.  While  in  this  condition,  an 
accomplice  of  Booth's,  named  John  Payne  Powell, 
tried  to  enter  the  room,  but  was  repulsed  by  Mr. 
Seward's  son,  who  was  at  once  knocked  down  with 
the  butt  of  a  pistol.  Rushing  into  the  room,  Payne 
Powell  stabbed  Mr.  Seward  three  times,  and  escaped, 
but  not  before  he  had  wounded,  while  fighting 
desperately,  five  people  in  all. 

During  the  night,  there  was  fearful  excitement  in 
Washington.  Rumours  were  abroad  that  the  Pre 
sident  was  murdered — that  all  the  members  of  the 
Cabinet  had  perished,  or  were  wounded — that  General 
Grant  had  barely  escaped  with  his  life — that  the 
rebels  had  risen,  and  were  seizing  on  Washington — 
and  that  all  was  confusion.  The  reality  was  enough 
to  warrant  any  degree  of  doubt  and  ^error.  There 
had  been,  indeed,  a  conspiracy  to  murder  all  the 
leading  members  of  Government.  General  Grant 
had  escaped  by  going  to  Philadelphia.  It  is  said 
that  this  most  immovable  of  men,  when  he  heard 


228  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

that  President  Lincoln  was  dead,  gravely  took  the 
cigar  from  his  mouth  and  quietly  said,  "  Then  I 
must  go  at  once  to  Washington.  I  shall  yet  have 
time  to  take  my  family  to  Bordertown,  and  catch  the 
eleven  o'clock  train." 

Efforts  have  been  made  by  both  parties  to  confine 
all  the  guilt  of  this  murder  to  Booth  alone,  and  to 
speak  of  him  as  a  half-crazed  lunatic  actor.  As  the 
facts  stand,  the  murder  had  long  been  threatened 
by  the  Southern  press,  and  was  apprehended  by 
many  people.  Booth  had  so  many  accomplices,  that 
they  expected  between  them  to  kill  the  President, 
Vice-President,  and  all  the  Cabinet.  And  yet,  with 
every  evidence  of  a  widespread  conspiracy  which  had 
numbers  of  ready  and  shrewd  agents  in  the  theatre, 
on  the  road,  and  far  and  wide,  even  the  most  zealous 
Union  writers  have  declared  that  all  this  plot  had  its 
beginning  and  end  in  the  brain  of  a  lunatic !  It  so 
happened  that,  just  at  this  time,  the  North,  weary  of 
war  and  willing  to  pardon  every  enemy,  had  no  desire 
to  be  vindictive.  When  Jefferson  Davis  was  tried, 
Mr.  Greeley  eagerly  stepped  forward  to  be  his  bail, 
and  there  were  many  more  looking  to  reconstruction 
and  reconciliation — or  to  office — and  averse  to  drive 
the  foe  to  extremes.  Perhaps  they  were  right ;  for  in 
great  emergencies  minor  interests  must  be  forgotten. 
It  was  the  Union-men  and  the  victors  who  were  now 
nobly  calling  for  peace  at  any  price  and  forgiveness. 


Plan  of  the  Murder.  229 

But  one  thing  is  at  least  certain.  From  a  letter  found 
April  1 5th,  1865,  in  Booth's  trunk,  it  was  shown  that 
the  murder  was  planned  before  the  4th  of  March,  but 
fell  through  then  because  the  accomplices  refused  to 
go  further  until  Richmond  could  be  heard  from.  So  it 
appears  that,  though  Booth  was  regarded  as  the 
beginning  and  end  of  the  plot,  and  solely  accountable, 
yet  his  tools  actually  refused  to  obey  him  until  they 
had  heard  from  Richmond,  the  seat  of  the  Rebel 
Government.  This  was  written  by  Secretary  Stanton 
to  General  Dix  on  April  15th,  in  the  interval  between 
the  attack  on  Lincoln  and  his  death.  The  entire 
execution  of  the  plot  evidently  depended  upon  news 
from  Richmond,  and  not  upon  Booth's  orders. 

Booth  himself,  escaping  across  the  Potomac,  "  found, 
for  some  days,  shelter  and  aid  among  the  rebel 
sympathisers  of  Lower  Maryland."  He  was,  of 
course,  pursued,  and,  having  taken  refuge  in  a  barn, 
was  summoned  to  surrender.  This  he  refused  to  do, 
and  was  then  shot  dead  by  a  soldier  named  Boston 
Corbett,  whom  I  have  heard  described  as  a  fanatic 
of  the  old  Puritan  stamp.  In  the  words  of  Arnold, 
Booth  did  not  live  to  betray  the  men  who  set  him  on. 
And  I  can  testify  that  there  was  nowhere  much  desire 
to  push  the  inquiry  too  far.  Booth  had  been  shot,  the 
leading  Union  politicians  were  busy  at  reconstruction, 
and  the  war  was  at  an  end.  But,  as  Arnold  declares, 
Booth  and  his  accomplices  were  but  the  wretched 


230  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

tools  of  the  real  conspirators,  and  it  remains  uncertain 
whether  the  conspirators  themselves  will  ever  in  this 
world  be  dragged  to  light. 

The  next  day,  April  1 5th,  1865,  the  whole  nation 
knew  the  dreadful  news,  and  there  was  such  universal 
sadness  as  had  never  been  known  within  the  memory 
of  man.  All  was  gloom  and  mourning  ;  men  walked 
in  the  public  places,  and  wept  aloud  as  if  they  had 
been  alone ;  women  sat  with  children  on  the  steps  of 
houses,  wailing  and  sobbing.  Strangers  stopped  to 
converse  and  cry.  I  saw  in  that  day  more  of  the 
human  heart  than  in  all  the  rest  of  my  life.  I  saw  in 
Philadelphia  a  great  mob  surging  idly  here  and  there 
between  madness  and  grief,  not  knowing  what  to  do. 
Somebody  suggested  that  the  Copperheads  were 
rejoicing  over  the  murder — as  they  indeed  were — and 
so  the  mob  attacked  their  houses,  but  soon  gave 
it  over,  out  of  very  despondency.  By  common 
sympathy,  every  family  began  to  dress  their  houses  in 
mourning,  and  to  hang  black  stuff  in  all  the  public 
places  ;  "before  night,  the  whole  nation  was  shrouded 
in  black."  That  day  I  went  from  Philadelphia  to 
Pittsburg.  This  latter  town,  owing  to  its  factories 
and  immense  consumption  of  bituminous  coal,  seems 
at  any  time  as  if  in  mourning ;  but  on  that  Sunday 
afternoon,  completely  swathed  and  hung  in  black,  with 
all  the  world  weeping  in  a  drizzling  rain,  its  dolefulness 
was  beyond  description.  Among  the  soldiers,  the 


Public  Grief.  231 


grief  was  very  great ;  but  with  the  poor  negroes,  it 
was  absolute — I  may  say  that  to  them  the  murder 
was  in  reality  a  second  crucifixion,  since,  in  their 
religious  enthusiasm,  they  literally  believed  the  Pre 
sident  to  be  a  Saviour  appointed  by  God  to  lead  them 
forth  to  freedom.  To  this  day  there  are  negro  huts, 
especially  in  Cuba,  where  Lincoln's  portrait  is  pre 
served  as  a  hidden  fetish,  and  as  the  picture  of  the 
Great  Prophet  who  was  not  killed,  but  only  taken 
away,  and  who  will  come  again,  like  King  Arthur,  to 
lead  his  people  to  liberty.  At  Lincoln's  funeral,  the 
weeping  of  the  coloured  folk  was  very  touching. 

It  was  proposed  that  President  Lincoln  should  be 
buried  in  the  vault  originally  constructed  for  Washing 
ton  in  the  Capitol.  This  would  have  been  most 
appropriate ;  but  the  representatives  from  Illinois 
were  very  urgent  that  his  remains  should  be  taken  to 
his  native  state,  and  this  was  finally  done.  So,  after 
funeral  services  in  Washington,  the  body  was  borne 
with  sad  processions  from  city  to  city,  through  Mary 
land,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  Ohio, 
Indiana,  and  Illinois.  At  Philadelphia  it  lay  in  state 
in  the  hall  where  the  declaration  of  Independence  had 
been  signed.  "A  half-million  of  people  were  in  the 
streets  to  do  honour  to  all  that  was  left  of  him  who, 
in  that  same  hall,  had  declared,  four  years  before,  that 
he  would  sooner  be  assassinated  than  give  up  the 
principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Ha 


232  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

had  been  assassinated  because  he  would  not  give 
them  up." 

This  death-journey,  with  its  incidents,  was  very 
touching.  It  showed  beyond  all  question  that,  during 
his  Presidency,  the  Illinois  backwoodsman  had  found 
his  way  to  the  hearts  of  the  people  as  no  man  had 
ever  done.  He  had  been  with  them  in  their  sorrows 
and  their  joys.  Those  who  had  wept  in  the  family 
circle  for  a  son  or  father  lost  in-  the  war,  now  wept 
again  the  more  because  the  great  chief  had  also 
perished.  The  last  victim  of  the  war  was  its  leader. 

The  final  interment  of  the  body  of  President 
Lincoln  took  place  at  Oak  Ridge  Cemetery,  in 
Springfield,  Illinois.  Four  years  previously,  Abraham 
Lincoln  had  left  a  little  humble  home  in  that  place,  and 
gone  to  be  tried  by  the  people  in  such  a  great  national 
crisis  as  seldom  falls  to  any  man  to  meet.  He  had 
indeed  "crossed  Fox  River"  in  such  a  turmoil  of 
roaring  waters  as  had  never  been  dreamed  of.  And, 
having  done  all  things  wisely  and  well,  he  passed 
away  with  the  war,  dying  with  its  last  murmurs. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

President  Lincoln's  Characteristics— His  Love  of  Humour— His  Stories- 
Pithy  Sayings— Repartees— His  Dignity. 

^WHATEVER  the  defects  of  Lincoln's  character 
"  *  were,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  there  was  ever 
so  great  a  man  who  was,  on  the  whole,  so  good, 
Compared  to  his  better  qualities,  these  faults  were  as 
nothing  ;  yet  they  came  forth  so  boldly,  owing  to  the 
natural  candour  and  manliness  on  which  they  grew, 
that,  to  petty  minds,  they  obscured  what  was  grand 
and  beautiful.  It  has  been  very  truly  said,  that  he 
was  the  most  remarkable  product  of  the  remarkable 
possibilities  of  American  lite.  Born  to  extreme 
poverty,  and  with  fewer  opportunities  for  culture  than 
are  "Open  to  any  British  peasant,  he  succeeded,  by 
sheer  perseverance  and  determination,  in  making 
himself  a  land-surveyor,  a  lawyer,  a  politician,  and  a 
President.  And  it  is  not  less  evident  that  even  his 
honesty  was  the  result  of  will,  though  his  kind- 
heartedness  came  by  nature.  What  was  most  remark 
able  in  him  was  his  thorough  Republicanism.  He 
was  so  completely  inspired  with  a  sense  that  the 


234  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

opinions  and  interests  common  to  the  community  are 
right,  that  to  his  mind  common  sense  assumed  its 
deepest  meaning  as  a  rule  of  the  highest  justice. 
When  the  whole  land  was  a  storm  of  warring  elements, 
and  in  the  strife  between  States'  Rights  and  Nation'al 
Supremacy  all  precedents  were  forgotten  and  every 
man  made  his  own  law,  then  Abraham  Lincoln, 
watching  events,  and  guided  by  what  he  felt  was 
really  the  sense  of  the  people,  sometimes  leading,  but 
always  following  when  he  could,  achieved  Eman 
cipation,  and  brought  a  tremendous  civil  war  to  a 
quiet  end. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  remarkably  free  from  jealousy 
or  personal  hatred.  His  honesty  in  all  things,  great 
or  small,  was  most  exemplary.  In  appointing  men, 
he  was  more  guided  by  the  interests  of  the  country  or 
their  fitness  than  by  any  other  consideration,  and 
avoided  favouritism  to  such  an  extent  that  it  was 
once  said,  in  reference  to  him,  that  honesty  was 
undoubtedly  good  policy,  but  it  was  hard  that  an 
American  citizen  should  be  excluded  from  office 
because  he  had,  unfortunately,  at  some  time  been  a 
friend  of  the  President.  Owing  to  this  principle,  he 
was  often  accused  of  ingratitude,  heartlessness,  or 
indifference.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  a  quick  perception  of 
character,  and  liked  to  give  men  credit  for  what  they 
understood.  Once,  when  his  opinion  was  asked  as  to 
politics,  he  said,  "You  must  ask  Raymond  about 


His  Love  of  Humour.  235 

that ;  in  politics,  he  is  my  lieutenant-general."1  The 
manner  in  which  Lincoln  became  gradually  appre 
ciated  was  well  expressed  in  the  London  "  Saturday 
Review,"  after  his  death,  when  it  said  that,  "during 
the  arduous  experience  of  four  years,  Mr.  Lincoln 
constantly  rose  in  general  estimation  by  calmness  of 
temper,  by  an  intuitively  logical  appreciation  of  the 
character  of  the  conflict,  and  by  undisputed  sincerity." 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  habitually  very  melancholy,  and,  as 
is  often  the  case,  sought  for  a  proper  balance  of  mind 
in  the  humour  of  which  he  had  such  a  rare  apprecia 
tion.  When  he  had  a  great  duty  on  hand,  he  would 
prepare  his  mind  for  it  by  reading  "something  funny." 
As  I  write  this,  I  am  kindly  supplied  with  an  admir 
able  illustration  by  Mr.  Bret  Harte.  One  evening 
the  President,  who  had  summoned  his  Cabinet  at  a 
most  critical  juncture,  instead  of  proceeding  to  any 
business,  passed  half-an-hour  in  reading  to  them  the 
comic  papers  of  Orpheus  C.  Kerr  (office-seeker),  which 
had  just  appeared.  But  at  last,  when  more  than  one 
gentleman  was  little  less  than  offended  at  such  levity, 
Mr.  Lincoln  rose,  laid  aside  the  book,  and,  with  a 
most  serious  air,  as  of  one  who  has  brought  his  mind 
to  a  great  point,  produced  and  read  the  slips  contain 
ing  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation,  and  this  he 
did  with  an  earnestness  and  feeling  which  were 

1  The  late   Henry  J.    Raymond,    then    editor  of   the  New  York 
"Times." 


236  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

electric,  moving  his  auditors  as  they  had  seldom  been 
moved.  By  far  the  best  work  of  humour  produced 
during  the  war,  if  it  be  not  indeed  the  best  work  of 
purely  American  humour  ever  written,  was  the  Petro 
leum  V.  Nasby  papers.  F.  B.  Carpenter  relates  that, 
on  the  Saturday  before  the  President  left  Washing 
ton  to  go  to  Richmond,  he  had  a  most  wearisome  day, 
followed  by  an  interview  with  several  callers  on  busi 
ness  of  great  importance.  Pushing  everything  aside, 
he  said — "  Have  you  seen  the  *  Nasby  Papers '  ? "  "  No, 
I  have  not,"  was  the  answer;  "what  are  they?" 
"  There  is  a  chap  out  in  Ohio,"  returned  the  President, 
"  who  has  been  writing  a  series  of  letters  in  the  news 
papers  over  the  signature  of  Petroleum  V.  Nasby. 
Some  one  sent  me  a  collection  of  them  the  other  day. 
I  am  going  to  write  to  Petroleum  to  come  down  here, 
and  I  intend  to  tell  him,  if  he  will  communicate  his 
talent  to  me,  I  will  swap  places  with  him."  There 
upon  he  arose,  went  to  a  drawer  in  his  desk,  and 
taking  out  the  letters,  he  sat  down  and  read  one  to 
the  company,  finding  in  their  enjoyment  of  it  the 
temporary  excitement  and  relief  which  another  man 
would  have  found  in  a  glass  of  wine.  The  moment 
he  ceased,  the  book  was  thrown  aside,  his  countenance 
relapsed  into  its  habitual  serious  expression,  and 
business  was  entered  upon  with  the  utmost  earnest 
ness.  The  author  of  these  "Nasby  Papers"  was 
David  R.  Locke.  After  Mr.  Lincoln's  death,  two  comic 


Favourite  Books.  237 

works,  both  well  thumbed,  indicating  that  they  had 
been  much  read,  were  found  in  his  desk.  One  was 
the  "Nasby  Letters,"  and  the  other  "The  Book  of 
Copperheads,"  written  and  illustrated  by  myself  and 
my  brother,  the  late  Henry  P.  Leland.  This  was 
kindly  lent  to  me  by  Mr.  MTherson,  Clerk  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  that  I  might  see  how 
thoroughly  Mr.  Lincoln  had  read  it.  Both  of  these 
works  were  satires  on  that  party  in  the  North  which 
sympathised  with  the  South. 

Men  of  much  reading,  and  with  a  varied  knowledge 
of  life,  especially  if  their  minds  have  somewhat  of 
critical  culture,  draw  their  materials  for  illustration  in 
conversation  from  many  sources.  Abraham  Lincoln's 
education  and  reading  were  not  such  as  to  supply  him 
with  much  unworn  or  refined  literary  illustration,  so 
he  used  such  material  as  he  had — incidents  and  stories 
from  the  homely  life  of  the  West.  I  have  observed 
that,  in  Europe,  Scotchmen  approach  most  nearly  to 
Americans  in  this  practical  application  of  events  and 
anecdotes.  Lincoln  excelled  in  the  art  of  putting 
things  aptly  and  concisely,  and,  like  many  old  Romans, 
would  place  his  whole  argument  in  a  brief  droll 
narrative,  the  point  of  which  would  render  his  whole 
meaning  clear  to  the  dullest  intellect.  In  their  way, 
these  were  like  the  illustrated  proverbs  known  as 
fables.  Menenius  Agrippa  and  Lincoln  would  have 
been  congenial  spirits.  However  coarse  or  humble 


238  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

the  illustration  might  be,  Mr.  Lincoln  never  failed  to 
convince  even  the  most  practised  diplomatists  or 
lawyers  that  he  had  a  marvellous  gift  for  grasping 
rapidly  all  the  details  of  a  difficulty,  and  for  reducing 
this  knowledge  to  a  practical  deduction,  and,  finally, 
for  presenting  the  result  in  a  concisely  humorous 
illustration  which  impressed  it  on  the  memory. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  in  a  peculiar  way  an  original 
thinker,  without  being  entirely  an  originator,  as  a 
creative  genius  is.  His  stories  were  seldom  or  never 
his  own  inventions ;  hundreds  of  them  were  well 
known,  but,  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Thompson.  "  however 
common  his  ideas  were  to  other  minds,  however 
simple  when  stated,  they  bore  the  stamp  of  indi 
viduality,  and  became  in  some  way  his  own."  During 
his  life,  and  within  a  few  months  after  his  death,  I 
made  a  large  MS.  collection  of  Lincolniana.  Few  of 
the  stories  were  altogether  new,  but  most  were 
original  in  application.  It  is  said  that,  being  asked  if 
a  very  stingy  neighbour  of  his  was  a  man  of  means, 
Mr.  Lincoln  replied  that  he  ought  to  be,  for  he  was 
about  the  meanest  man  round  there.  This  may  or 
may  not  be  authentic,  but  it  is  eminently  Lincolnian. 
So  with  the  jests  of  Tyll  Eulenspiegel,  or  of  any  other 
great  droll ;  he  invariably  becomes  the  nucleus  of  a 
certain  kind  of  humour. 

Unconsciously,  Abraham  Lincoln  became  a  great 
proverbialist.  Scores  of  his  pithy  sayings  are  current 


His  Pithy  Sayings.  239 

among  the  people.  "In  giving  freedom  to  the  slave, 
we  assure  freedom  to  the  free,"  is  the  sum-total  of  all 
the  policy  which  urged  Emancipation  for  the  sake  of 
the  white  man.  "  This  struggle  of  to-day  is  for  a  vast 
future  also,"  expressed  a  great  popular  opinion.  "  We 
are  making  history  rapidly,"  was  very  flattering  to  all 
who  shared  in  the  war.  "If  slavery  is  not  wrong, 
nothing  is  wrong,"  spoke  the  very  extreme  of  convic 
tion.  The  whole  people  took  his  witty  caution  "  not 
to  swap  horses  in  the  middle  of  a  stream."  When  it 
was  always  urged  by  the  Democrats  that  emancipa 
tion  implied  amalgamation,  he  answered — "  I  do  not 
understand  that  because  I  do  not  want  a  negro 
woman  for  a  slave,  I  must  necessarily  want  her  for  a 
wife."  This  popular  Democratic  shibboleth,  "  How 
would  you  like  your  daughter  to  marry  a  negro  ?"  was 
keenly  satirised  by  Nasby.  I  have  myself  known  a 
Democratic  procession  in  Philadelphia  to  contain  a 
car  with  a  parcel  of  girls  dressed  in  white,  and  the 
motto,  "  Fathers,  protect  us  from  Black  Husbands." 
To  which  the  Republican  banner  simply  replied,  "Our 
Daughters  do  not  want  to  marry  Black  Husbands." 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  always  moderate  in  argu 
ment.  Once,  when  Judge  Douglas  attempted  to 
parry  an  argument  by  impeaching  the  veracity  of  a 
senator  whom  Mr.  Lincoln  had  quoted,  he  answered 
that  the  question  was  not  one  of  veracity,  but  simply 
one  of  argument.  He  said — "  Euclid,  by  a  course  o.f 


240  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

reasoning,  proves  that  all  the  angles  in  a  triangle  are 
equal  to  two  right  angles ;  now,  would  you  undertake 
to  disprove  that  assertion  by  calling  Euclid  a  liar?" 

"  I  never  did  invent  anything  original — I  am  only  a 
retail  dealer"  is  very  characteristic  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 
He  was  speaking  of  the  stones  credited  to  him,  and 
yet  the  modesty  of  the  remark,  coupled  with  the  droll 
distinction  between  original  wholesale  manufacturers 
and  retail  dealers,  is  both  original  and  quaint. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  very  ingenious  in  finding  reasons 
for  being  merciful.  On  one  occasion,  a  young  soldier 
who  had  shown  himself  very  brave  in  war,  and  had 
been  severely  wounded,  after  a  time  deserted.  Being 
re-captured,  he  was  under  sentence  of  death,  and  Pre 
sident  Lincoln  was  of  course  petitioned  for  his  pardon. 
It  was  a  difficult  case ;  the  young  man  deserved  to 
die,  and  desertion  was  sadly  injuring  the  army.  The 
President  mused  solemnly,  until  a  happy  thought 
struck  him.  "  Did  you  say  he  was  once  badly 
wounded  ?"  he  asked  of  the  applicant  for  a  pardon. 
"  He  was."  "Then,  as  the  Scripture  says  that  in  the 
shedding  of  blood  is  the  remission  of  sins,  I  guess 
we'll  have  to  let  him  off  this  time." 

When  Mr.  Lincoln  was  grossly  and  foolishly  flat 
tered,  as  happened  once  in  the  case  of  a  gushing 
"interviewer,"  who  naively  put  his  own  punishment 
into  print,  he  could  quiz  the  flatterer  with  great 
ingenuity  by  apparently  falling  into  the  victim's 


Repartees.  241 


humour.  When  only  moderately  praised,  he  retorted 
gently.  Once,  when  a  gentleman  complimented  him  on 
having  no  vices,  such  as  drinking  or  smoking,  "  That 
is  a  doubtful  compliment,"  answered  Mr.  Lincoln. 
"  I  recollect  once  being  outside  a  stage-coach  in 
Illinois,  when  a  man  offered  me  a  cigar.  I  told  him  I 
had  no  vices.  He  said  nothing,  but  smoked  for  some 
time,  and  then  growled  out,  '  It's  my  opinion  that 
people  who  have  no  vices  have  plaguy  few  virtues." 

President  Lincoln  was  not  merely  obliging  or  con 
descending  in  allowing  every  one  to  see  him  ;  in  his 
simple  Republicanism,  he  believed  that  the  people 
who  had  made  him  President  had  a  right  to  talk  to 
him.  One  day  a  friend  found  him  half-amused,  half- 
irritated.  "  You  met  an  old  lady  as  you  entered,"  he 
said.  "  Well,  she  wanted  me  to  give  her  an  order  for 
stopping  the  pay  of  a  Treasury  clerk  who  owes  her  a 
board-bill  of  seventy  dollars."  His  visitor  expressed 
surprise  that  he  did  not  adopt  the  usual  military 
plan,  under  which  every  application  to  see  the  general 
commanding  had  to  be  filtered  through  a  sieve  of 
officers,  who  allowed  no  one  to  take  up  the  chief's 
time  except  those  who  had  business  of  sufficient 
importance.  "Ah  yes,"  the  President  replied,  "such 
things  may  do  very  well  for  you  military  people,  with 
your  arbitrary  rule.  But  the  office  of  a  President  is  a 
very  different  one,  and  the  affair  is  very  different. 
For  myself,  I  feel,  though  the  tax  on  my  time  is 
Q 


242  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

heavy,  that  no  hours  of  my  day  are  better  employed 
than  those  which  thus  bring  me  again  into  direct 
contact  with  the  people.  All  serves  to  renew  in  me 
a  clearer  and  more  vivid  image  of  that  great  popular 
assemblage  out  of  which  I  sprung,  and  to  which,  at 
the  end  of  two  years,  I  must  return."  To  such  an 
extreme  did  he  carry  this,  and  such  .weariness  did  it 
cause  him,  that,  at  the  end  of  four  years,  he  who  had 
been  one  of  the  strongest  men  living,  was  no  longer 
strong  or  vigorous.  But  he  always  had  a  good- 
natured  story,  even  for  his  tormentors.  Once,  when 
a  Kentucky  farmer  wanted  him  at  a  critical  period  of 
the  Emancipation  question  to  exert  himself  and  turn 
the  whole  machinery  of  government  to  aid  him  in 
recovering  two  slaves,  President  Lincoln  said  this 
reminded  him  of  Jack  Chase,  the  captain  of  a  western 
steamboat.  It  is  a  terrible  thing  to  steer  a  boat  down 
the  roaring  rapids,  where  the  mistake  of  an  inch  may 
cause  wreck,  and  it  requires  the  extreme  attention  of 
the  pilot.  One  day,  when  the  boat  was  plunging  and 
wallowing  along  the  boiling  current,  and  Jack  at  the 
wheel  was  using  all  care  to  keep  in  the  perilous 
channel,  a  boy  pulled  his  coat-tail  and  cried,  "  Say, 
Mister  Captain  !  I  wish  you'd  stop  your  boat  a  minute. 
I've  lost  my  apple  overboard" 

In  self-conscious  "deportment,"  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
utterly  deficient ;  in  true  unconscious  dignity,  he  was 
unsurpassed.  He  would  sit  down  on  the  stone- 


His  Dignity.  243 


coping  outside  the  White  House  to  write  on  his  card 
the  directions  by  which  a  poor  man  might  be  relieved 
from  his  sorrow,  looking  as  he  did  so  as  if  he  were 
sitting  on  the  pavement ;  or  he  would  actually  lie 
down  on  the  grass  beside  a  common  'soldier,  and  go 
over  his  papers  with  him,  while  his  carriage  waited, 
and  great  men  gathered  around  ;  but  no  man  ever 
dared  to  be  impertinent,  or  unduly  familiar  with  him. 
Once  an  insolent  officer  accused  him  to  his  face  of 
injustice,  and  he  arose,  lifted  the  man  by  the  collar, 
and  carried  him  out,  kicking.  But  this  is,  I  believe, 
the  only  story  extant  of  any  one  having  treated  him 
with  insolence. 

Hunting  popularity  by  means  of  petty  benevolence 
is  so  usual  with  professional  politicians,  that  many  may 
suspect  that  Lincoln  was  not  unselfish  in  his  acts  of 
kindness.  But  I  myself  know  of  one  instance  of 
charity  exercised  by  him,  which  was  certainly  most 
disinterested.  One  night,  a  poor  old  man,  whose 
little  farm  had  been  laid  waste  during  the  war,  and 
who  had  come  to  Washington,  hoping  that  Govern 
ment  would  repay  his  loss,  found  himself  penniless  in 
the  streets  of  the  capital.  A  person  whom  I  know 
very  well  saw  him  accost  the  President,  who  listened 
to  his  story,  and  then,  writing  something  on  a  piece  of 
paper,  gave  it  to  him,  and  with  it  a  ten-dollar  note. 
The  President  went  his  way,  and  my  acquaintance 
going  up  to  the  old  man,  who  was  deeply  moved, 


244  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

asked  him  what  was  the  matter.  "  I  thank  God," 
said  the  old  man,  using  a  quaint  American  phrase, 
"  that  there  are  some  white  people *  in  this  town.  I've 
been  tryin'  to  get  somebody  to  listen  to  me,  and 
nobody  would,  because  I'm  a  poor  foolish  old  body. 
But  just  now  a  stranger  listened  to  all  my  story,  and 
give  me  this  here."  He  said  this,  showing  the  money 
and  the  paper,  which  contained  a  request  to  Secretary 
Stanton  to  have  the  old  man's  claim  investigated  at 
once,  and,  if  just,  promptly  satisfied.  When  it  is 
remembered  that  Lincoln  went  into  office  and  out  of 
it  a  poor  man,  or  at  least  a  very  poor  man  for  one  in 
his  position,  his  frequent  acts  of  charity  appear  doubly 
creditable. 

Whatever  may  be  said  of  Lincoln,  he  was  always 
simply  and  truly  a  good  man.  He  was  a  good  father 
to  his  children,  and  a  good  President  to  the  people, 
whom  he  loved  as  if  they  had  been  his  children. 
America  and  the  rest  of  the  world  have  had  many 
great  rulers,  but  never  one  who,  like  Lincoln,  was  so 
much  one  of  the  people,  or  who  was  so  sympathetic 
in  their  sorrows  and  trials. 

1  "White  people" — civilised,  decent,  kind-hearted  people. 


APPENDIX. 


[FROM  THE  NEW  YORK  EVENING  POST,  AUGUST  16,  1867.] 
HIS  LECTURE  AT  THE  COOPER  INSTITUTE  IN  1860. 

To  the  Editor  of  The  Evening  Post  : 

IN  October,  1859,  Messrs.  Joseph  H.  Richards,  J.  M.  Pettingill, 
and  S.  W.  Tubbs  called  on  me  at  the  office  of  the  Ohio  State 
Agency,  25  William  Street,  and  requested  me  to  write  to  the  Hon. 
Thomas  Corwin  of  Ohio,  and  the  Hon.  Abraham  Lincoln  of  Illinois, 
and  invite  them  to  lecture  in  a  course  of  lectures  these  young  gen 
tlemen  proposed  for  the  winter  in  Plymouth  Church,  Brooklyn. 

I  wrote  the  letters  as  requested,  and  offered  as  compensation  for 
each  lecture,  as  I  was  authorized,  the  sum  of  $200.  The  proposition 
to  lecture  was  accepted  by  Messrs.  Corwin  and  Lincoln.  Mr.  Cor 
win  delivered  his  lecture  in  Plymouth  Church,  as  he  was  on  his  way 
to  Washington  to  attend  Congress  ;  Mr.  Lincoln  could  not  lecture 
until  late  in  the  season,  and  the  proposition  was  agreed  to  by  the 
gentlemen  named,  and  accepted  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  as  the  following 
letter  will  show  : 

"  DANVILLE,  ILLINOIS,  November  13,  1859. 
"JAMES  A.  BRIGGS,  ESQ. 

"  DEAR  SIR  :  Yours  of  the  1st  inst.,  closing  with  my  proposition  for 
compromise,  was  duly  received.  I  will  be  on  hand,  and  in  due  time 
will  notify  you  of  the  exact  day.  I  believe,  after  all,  I  shall  make  a 
political  speech  of  it.  You  have  no  objection  ? 


246  Appendix. 


"  I  would  like  to  know  in  advance,  whether  I  am  also  to  speak  in 
New  York. 

' '  Very,  very  glad  your  election  went  right. 

"  Yours  truly, 

"A.  LINCOLN. 

"  P.S. — I  am  here  at  court,  but  my  address  is  still  at  Springfield, 
111." 

In  due  time  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  me  that  he  would  deliver  the  lec 
ture,  a  political  one,  on  the  evening  of  the  27th  of  February,  1860. 
This  was  rather  late  in  the  season  for  a  lecture,  and  the  young  gentle 
men  who  were  responsible  were  doubtful  about  its  success,  as  the  ex 
penses  were  large.  It  was  stipulated  that  the  lecture  was  to  be  in 
Plymouth  Church,  Brooklyn  ;  I  requested  and  urged  that  the  lecture 
should  be  delivered  at  the  Cooper  Institute.  They  were  fearful  it 
would  not  pay  expenses — $350.  I  thought  it  would. 

In  order  to  relieve  Messrs.  Richards,  Pettingill,  and  Tubbs  of  all 
responsibility,  I  called  upon  some  of  the  officers  of  "  The  Young  Men's 
Republican  Union,"  and  proposed  that  they  should  take  Mr.  Lincoln, 
and  that  the  lecture  should  be  delivered  under  their  auspices.  They 
respectfully  declined. 

I  next  called  upon  Mr.  Simeon  Draper,  then  president  of  "The 
Draper  Republican  Union  Club  of  New  York,"  and  proposed  to  him 
that  his  "  Union"  take  Mr.  Lincoln  and  the  lecture,  and  assume  the 
responsibility  of  the  expenses.  Mr.  Draper  and  his  friends  declined, 
and  Mr.  Lincoln  was  left  on  the  hands  of  "  the  original  Jacobs." 

After  considerable  discussion,  it  was  agreed  on  the  part  of  the 
young  gentlemen  that  the  lecture  should  be  delivered  in  the  Cooper 
Institute,  if  I  would  agree  to  share  one-fourth  of  the  expenses,  if  the 
sale  of  the  tickets  (25  cents)  for  the  lecture  did  not  meet  the  outlay. 
To  this  I  assented,  and  the  lecture  was  advertised  to  be  delivered  in 
the  Cooper  Institute,  on  the  evening  of  the  27th  of  February. 

Mr.  Lincoln  read  the  notice  of  the  lecture  in  the  papers,  and,  with 
out  any  knowledge  of  the  arrangement,  was  somewhat  surprised  to 
learn  that  he  was  first  to  make  his  appearance  before  a  New  York 
audience,  instead  of  a  Plymouth  Church  audience.  A  notice  of  the 
proposed  lecture  appeared  in  the  New  York  papers,  and  the  Times 


Appendix.  247 


spoke  of  him  "as  a  lawyer  who  had  some  local  reputation  in  Illi 
nois." 

At  my  personal  solicitation  MR.  WILLIAM  CULLEN  BRYANT  pre 
sided  as  chairman  of  the  meeting,  and  introduced  Mr.  Lincoln  for  the 
first  time  to  a  New  York  audience. 

The  lecture  was  a  wonderful  success  ;  it  has  become  a  part  of  the 
history  of  the  country.  Its  remarkable  ability  was  everywhere  ac 
knowledged,  and  after  the  27th  of  February  the  name  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  a  familiar  one  to  all  the  people  of  the  East.  After  Mr.  Lincoln 
closed  his  lecture,  Mr.  David  Dudley  Field,  Mr.  James  W.  Nye,  Mr. 
Horace  Greeley,  and  myself  were  called  out  by  the  audience  and 
made  short  speeches.  I  remember  of  saying  then,  "  One  of  three 
gentlemen  will  be  our  standard-bearer  in  the  presidential  contest  of 
this  year  :  the  distinguished  Senator  of  New  York,  Mr.  Seward  ;  the 
late  able  and  accomplished  Governor  of  Ohio,  Mr.  Chase  ;  or  the 
'  Unknown  Knight '  who  entered  the  political  lists  against  the  Bois 
Guilbert  of  Democracy  on  the  prairies  of  Illinois  in  1858,  and  un 
horsed  him — Abraham  Lincoln."  Some  friends  joked  me  after  the 
meeting  as  not  being  a  "  good  prophet."  The  lecture  was  over — all 
the  expenses  were  paid,  and  I  was  handed  by  the  gentlemen  inter 
ested  the  sum  of  $4.25  as  my  share  of  the  profits,  as  they  would  have 
called  on  me  if  there  had  been  a  deficiency  in  the  receipts  to  meet 
the  expenses. 

Immediately  after  the  lecture,  Mr.  Lincoln  went  to  Exeter,  N.  H., 
to  visit  his  son  Robert,  then  at  school  there,  and  I  sent  him  a  check 
for  $200.  Mr.  Tubbs  informed  me  a  few  weeks  ago  that  after  the 
check  was  paid  at  the  Park  Bank  he  tore  it  up  ;  but  that  he  would 
give  $200  for  the  check  if  it  could  be  restored  with  the  endorse 
ment  of  "A.  Lincoln,"  as  it  was  made  payable  to  the  order  of  Mr. 
Lincoln. 

After  the  return  of  Mr.  Lincoln  to  New  York  from  the  East, 
where  he  had  made  several  speeches,  he  said  to  me,  "  I  have  seen 
what  all  the  New  York  papers  said  about  that  thing  of  mine  in  the 
Cooper  Institute,  with  the  exception  of  the  New  York  Evening  Post, 
and  I  would  like  to  know  what  Mr.  Bryant  thought  of  it  ; "  and  he 
then  added,  "It  is  worth  a  visit  from  Springfield,  Illinois,  to  New 
York  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  such  a  man  as  WILLIAM  CULLEN 


248  Appendix. 


BRYANT."      At    Mr.  Lincoln's   request,  I  sent  him  a  copy  of  the 
Evening  Post  with  a  notice  of  his  lecture. 

On  returning  from  Mr.  Beecher's  Church,  on  Sunday,  in  company 
with  Mr.  Lincoln,  as  we  were  passing  the  post-office,  I  remarked  to 
him,  "  Mr.  Lincoln,  I  wish  you  would  take  particular  notice  of  what 
a  dark  and  dismal  place  we  have  here  for  a  post-office,  and  I  do  it 
for  this  reason  :  I  think  your  chance  for  being  the  next  President  is 
equal  to  that  of  any  man  in  the  country.  When  you  are  President 
will  you  recommend  an  appropriation  of  a  million  of  dollars  for  a 
suitable  location  for  a  post-office  in  this  city  ?  "  With  a  significant 
gesture  Mr.  Lincoln  remarked,  "  I  will  make  a  note  of  that." 

On  going  up  Broadway  with  Mr.  Lincoln  in  the  evening,  from  the 
Astor  House,  to  hear  the  Rev.  Dr.  E.  H.  Chapin,  he  said  to  me, 
"  When  I  was  East  several  gentlemen  made  about  the  same  remarks 
to  me  that  you  did  to-day  about  the  Presidency  ;  they  thought  my 
chances  were  about  equal  to  the  best." 

JAMES  A.  BRIGGS. 

N.B. — The  writers  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Biography  have  things  con 
siderably  mixed  about  Mr.  Lincoln  going  to  the  Five  Points  Mission 
School,  at  the  Five  Points,  in  New  York,  that  he  found  his  way  there 
alone,  etc.,  etc.  Mr.  Lincoln  went  there  in  the  afternoon  with  his 
old  friend  Hiram  Barney,  Esq.,  and  after  Mr.  B.  had  informed  Mr. 
Barlow,  the  Superintendent,  who  the  stranger  with  him  was,  Mr. 
Barlow  requested  Mr.  Lincoln  to  speak  to  the  children,  which  he 
did.  I  met  Mr.  Lincoln  at  Mr.  Barney's  at  tea,  just  after  this  pleas 
ant,  and  to  him  strange,  visit  at  the  Five  Points  Mission  School. 

J.  A.  B. 


INDEX. 


ABOLITIONISM,  49,  66,  122,  126, 168. 
Alabama,  145,  196. 
Anti-slavery  protest,  48,  50,  51 ;  re 
solutions,  59. 

BALDWIN,  JOHN,  the  smith,  27. 

Barbarities,  186. 

Black  regiment,  charge  of  the,  161. 

Black's  (Judge)  decision,  93. 

Blockade  declared,  108. 

Booth,  his  plans,  221 ;  antecedents, 

223 ;  death,  229. 
Border   ruffians   and  outrages,    68, 

69,  71. 

Buchanan,  President,  92. 
Bull  Run,  113,  114. 
Burnsidc,  General,  142. 

CABINET,  treason  in  the,  92. 

Chancellorsville,  battle  of,  148. 

Chattanooga,  battle  of,  164. 

Clay,  Henry,  57. 

Compromises  of  1826  and  1850,  65. 

Confederate  organisation  in  Europe, 
117;  agents  in  Canada,  197 ;  pro 
posals,  205. 

Conspiracies,  suspected,  88. 

Copperheads,  96,  179 ;  book  of,  237. 

Colonisation  of  slaves  proposed,  123. 

Cost  of  the  war,  219. 

DA  VIP  JEFFERSON,  President  of 
Confederacy,  94,  109 ;  escape  of, 
217. 

"  Dred  Scott"  decision,  73. 

Douglas,  Stephen,  47,  67,  69,  70,  74, 
77,  84,  no. 

ELLSWORTH  and  Winthrop,  death 

Of,    112. 


Enlistment  of  coloured  troops,  133. 
Exhaustive  effects  of  Northern  incur 
sions,  185. 

.  FARRAGUT,  Admiral,  194. 
'  Fox  River  anecdote,  95. 
|  Fremont,  73,  169. 

GETTYSBURG,  battle  of,  150. 

Gloom  of  1864,  179. 

Grant,  "Unconditional  Surrender," 
137;  daring  march,  157;  succes 
sion  of  victories,  158  ;  last  battle, 
212;  chase  of  Lee,  215. 

Greeley,  Horace,  79. 

HANKS,  NANCY,  9,  12,  15. 
Hood,  General,  188. 
Hooker,  General,  187. 
Hicks,    Governor,    and    Maryland, 
107,  108. 

JACKSON,  death  of  General  Stone 
wall,  149. 

Johnston,  Mrs.,  Lincoln's  second 
mother,  18-20. 

Jones  of  Gentryville,  26. 

KANSAS-NEBRASKA  Bill,  67. 
Kidnapping  negroes  (note),  67. 

LECOMPTON  Constitution,  74. 

Lincoln,  Mordecai  and  Abraham,  10. 

Lincoln,  Thomas,  his  character,  12 ; 
his  marriage,  15. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  his  family,  9,  10 ; 
birth  and  birth-place,  9 ;  grand 
father  killed  by  Indians,  n ; 
schools,  15;  migrations,  16,  30; 
hereditary  traits,  13 ;  poverty  and 


250 


Index. 


privations,  17;  education,  20; 
death  of  his  mother,  18;  acts  as 
ferry-man,  25  ;  characteristics  and 
habits  in  youth,  21,  22,  23,  25; 
physical  strength,  26,  33 ;  early 
literary  efforts,  27;  temperance, 
26 ;  earns  a  dollar,  29  ;  personal  ap 
pearance,  31 ;  first  public  speech, 
31  ;  splitting  rails,  31 ;  postmaster, 
43;  Black  Hawk  Indian  war — a 
captain — quells  a  mutiny,  35-38  ; 
love  affairs,  45,  54 ;  entrance  into 
political  life,  41 ;  becomes  a  mer 
chant,  and  studies  law,  42 ;  sur 
veying  studies,  43 ;  legal  expe 
riences,  6 r,  62,  63 ;  personal 
popularity,  57;  elected  to  legisla 
ture,  44,  45,  70  ;  removal  to  Spring 
field,  and  practice  of  law,  53 ; 
generosity,  57;  enters  Congress- 
first  speech,  58 ;  Presidential  can 
didate,  54;  declines  nomination  to 
the  Senate,  70;  "  house-divided- 
against-hself  "speech,  75  ;  nomina 
tion  for  Presidency,  79,  80,  81,  82  ; 
lectures  in  New  York  and  Eng 
land,  79,  80,  81;  elected  Presi 
dent,  85  ;  address  at  Springfield, 
89 ;  inaugural  speech,  97 ;  first 
Cabinet,  100 ;  wise  forbearance, 
103  ;  his  mercy,  172,  175 ;  second 
election,  199  ;  assassination,  225  ; 
death,  227;  funeral  procession, 
231;  lying  in  state,  231;  inter 
ment,  232;  general  summary  of 
character,  233-244;  wit  and 
humour,  240,  247,  242. 
Long  Nine,  the,  46,  47. 

MASON  and  Sliddell  affair,  131. 
M'Clellan,  General,  115;  apathy  of, 

140. 
Merrimac,  the,  141. 


Mexican  war,  59. 

Mexico,  the  French  in,  167. 

NASBY,  PETROLEUM  V.,  236. 
Negroes,  reception  of.  204. 

PEA  Ridge,  battle  of,  138. 
Port  Hudson,  surrender  of,  162. 
Privations  in  the  South,  185. 
Proclamation  of  April  15,  1861,  103. 
Prosperity  of  the  North,  180. 

QUANTRILL'S  guerillas,  170. 

REBELLION,  breaking  out  of,  91,  94 ; 

progress  of,  in. 
Religion  and  irreligion,  55,  56. 
Republican  party,  origin  of,  72. 
Richmond,  fall  of,  213. 
Riot  in  New  York,  165. 

SANITARY  fairs,  182. 
Secession,  86,  87,  93. 
Seward,  W.  A.,  reluses  to  meet  the 

Rebel  Commissioners,  102. 
Sherman's  march,  188,  193. 
Shiloh,  battle  of,  138. 
Slavery — slave  trade,  103  ;  argument 

against,  71 ;  slave  party,  64,  65. 
Sumter,  fall  of  Fort,  104. 
Surrender  of  Confederate  forces,  216. 

TENNESSEE,  the  campaign  in,  163. 
Todd,  Mary,  55. 

UNION  troops  attacked,  106. 
VIRGINIA'S  secession,  109,  115. 

WAR,  organisation  of,  113. 
Wilderness,  battle  of  the,  193. 
Wilmot's  proviso,  66. 


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"  One  of  the  most  valuable  publications  of  the  century." — Boston  Post. 

"  A  book  actually  fascinating  from  beginning  to  end.   — Prest.  J.  B.  ANGELL. 

"  As  the  work  stands,  it  may  rightfully  claim  a  place  on  the  library  table  of  every 
cultivated  American." — New  York  Times. 

"  No  work  of  similar  scope  and  magnitude  and  erudition  exists,  or  has  been  at 
tempted  in  this  country." — New  York  Evangelist. 

"  A  unique  and  valuable  work  " — Chicago  Tribune. 

u  A  work  which  will  rank  with  those  of  Sismondi,  Ticknor,  and  Taine." — New 
York  Evening  Express. 

"  It  is  this  philosophical  character  of  the  work  which  brings  it  not  far  distant  from 
the  works  of  Taine,  of  Buckle,  and  of  Lecky."— Buffalo  Express. 

"  One  can  hardly  speak  too  strongly  in  praise  of  these  conscientious,  careful  and 
successful  volumes,  which  deserve  to  be  studied  alike  by  scholars  and  patriots." — Rev. 
Henry  Martyn  Dexter,  D.D. 

"  But  the  plan  of  Professor  Tyler's  book  is  so  vast  and  its  execution  so  fearless, 
that  no  reader  can  expect  or  wish  to  agree  wich  all  its  personal  judgments.  It  is  a  book 
truly  admirable,  both  in  design  and  in  general  execution  ;  the  learning  is  great,  the 
treatment  wise,  the  style  fresh  and  vigorous.  Here  and  there  occurs  a  phrase  which  a 
severer  revision  would  perhaps  exclude,  but  all  such  criticisms  are  trivial  in  view  of  so 
signal  a  success.  Like  Parkman,  Professor  Tyler  may  almost  be  said  to  have  created, 
not  merely  his  volumes,  but  their  theme.  Like  Parkman,  at  any  rate,  he  has  taken  a 
whole  department  of  human  history,  rescued  it  from  oblivion,  and  made  it  hencefor 
ward  a  matter  of  deep  interest  to  every  thinking  mind." — T.  W.  HIGGINSON,  in  The 
Nation. 

u  The  work  betrays  acute  philosophical  insight,  a  rare  power  of.  historical  re 
search,  and  a  cultivated  literary  habit,  which  was  perhaps  no  less  essential  than  the 
two  forrrver  conditions,  to  its  successful  accomplishment.  The  style  of  the  author  is 
marked  by  vigor,  originality,  comprehensiveness,  and  a  curious  instinct  in  the  selection 
of  words.  In  this  latter  respect,  though  not  in  the  moulding  of  sentences,  the  reader 
may  perhaps  be  reminded  of  the  choice  and  fragrant  vocabulary  of  Washington  Irving, 
whose  words  alone  often  leave  an  exquisite  odor  like  the  perfume  of  sweet-briar  and 
arbutus." — GEORGE  RITLEY,  in  the  Tribune. 

II  Professor  Moses  Coit  Tyler's  '  History  of  American  Literature,'  of  which  the 
first  two  volumes  have  just  been  issued,  will  take  rank  at  once  as  a  book  of  lasting 
value,  even  though  the  author  should  advance  no  further  than  he  has  already  done  in 
the  scheme  ot  his  work.     We  are  not  unmindful  of  the  eminent  historians  this  country 
has  produced,  when  we  express  our  opinion  that  his  history  is  the  best  study  of  Amen- 
can  historic  material  that  has  been  written  by  an  American.     There  has  been  manifestly 
no  limit  to  the  enthusiasm,  conscientiousness  and  industry  with  which  he  has  possessed 
himself  ot  the  entire  body  of  the  literature  of  which  he  treats,  and  at  the  same  time  he 
has  displayed  the  qualities  of  a  true  literary  artist  in  giving  form,  color  and  perspective 
to  his  work."— DAVID  GRAY,   in  the  Buffalo  Courier. 


14  D.AV 
TO  DESK  PROM 


LOAN  DEPT. 


BORROWED 


LD21A-60W.8,'70 
(N8837slO)476— A-32 


.General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


YB  37560 


